Avalon Park is bracing for a wave of new commercial development and new jobs when Orange County opens a temporary interchange linking the UCF campus and the Innovation Way corridor with SR 528, Lake Nona’s Medical City and Orlando International Airport.

Eric Marks, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Avalon Park Group, says Avalon Park is approaching the halfway point of its approved one million square feet of commercial space, and new development resulting from the transportation link could add as much as 550,000 square feet of commercial space at Avalon Park within five to seven years.

“As the middle link between the UCF campus and the UCF College of Medicine, we’re perfectly located to serve both hubs simultaneously,” says Marks. “The economic impact in terms of new employment and new development will benefit the entire East Orlando region, and we anticipate an increase in demand within the first year.”

Medical City, which also includes the new V.A. Hospital, Nemours Children’s Hospital and the Sanford-Burnham Institute for Medical Research, is expected to generate more than 5,000 new jobs over the next five years, including doctors, medical staff, technicians and support workers. The widening Alafaya Trail is set to begin next June.

Marks says Avalon Park will benefit from two types of commercial users.

“We will see a significant increase in demand for space to serve our existing community,” he says. Avalon Park now includes more than 3,500 homes, with a mixed-use downtown district that includes offices, shops and stores, along with condominiums and rental apartments.

“The evolution of a downtown is directly related to the maturity and needs of the surrounding community,” says Ross Halle, vice president of architecture and town planning for Avalon Park Group. “Access via a transportation network is critical to this evolutionary process and will be afforded to Avalon Park with the connection of innovation way to the Beachline. This type of “organic growth” results in a healthy development pattern and is the underlying principal of downtown Avalon Park.”

“Downtown Avalon Park is a tremendous asset,” says Marks. “The opportunity to walk out of your office building onto a downtown street within a block or two of dozens of restaurants, cafes, shops and stores is very appealing.”

Avalon Park’s equidistance from the main UCF campus and Medical City will attract a second group of service businesses and providers that want to serve both markets, according to Marks.

“From service businesses such as health care, insurance and legal to primary employers such as software, telecommunications and research and development firms, Avalon Park offers a unique environment,” he said.

According to the Public Log Report of the University Police Department, UCF officers made 16 arrests on and off campus for individuals driving under the influence of alcohol. The unsettling thing? These arrests happened in the span of under two months. Fortunately for the safety of students and East Orlando residents alike, the University of Central Florida is taking the necessary measures to make sure DUI prevention is available for students through two programs: UCF Safe Ride and KnightDrive.

UCF Safe Ride is a program for students that offers free taxi rides, up to a $35 fare. The Activity and Service Fee - a payment made by students based on how many credit hours he or she is taking each semester - covers the cost of the taxi ride through a voucher. If a taxi ride exceeds the amount of the covered cost, students are responsible only for the remaining amount of the drive.

The voucher can be obtained from the Student Government Assocation Ticket Center, which is located in UCF’s Student Union. With a valid student ID card, students are allowed to get one voucher every 60 days. Because money used for the Safe Ride program was recently cut down, the number of vouchers given out each semester is limited, according to an anonymous representative at the SGA Ticket Center. Currently, the Ticket Center still has vouchers for this semester, the representative said.

Although Safe Ride seems like an ideal DUI prevention and safety program, it could soon be taken over by KnightDrive, a driving program similar to Safe Ride that may provide a cost saving alternative.

KnightDrive is a program that will offer “free, non-judgmental” rides to a designated address for UCF students, according to the UCF Student Government Association Web site. If a student doesn’t feel safe driving, he or she can call KnightDrive, give their location, and where they need to be. KnightDrive will then dispatch a driving crew - two volunteers, one male and one female - who will bring the student to the location they requested. The service will operate on Friday nights, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. initially. The Web site did not say if SGA plans to expand the days or hours.

Currently, KnightDrive is in its final stage of review, according to a recent article published by the Central Florida Future, UCF’s official school newspaper. The program could be up and running by the week after spring break if approved according to the article.

Rob Love, a student at UCF majoring in film, has obtained vouchers for Safe Ride, but hasn’t felt the need to use one yet.

“Since I can only get one every 60 days, I didn’t want to waste it,” he says.

Love believes that the money allotted towards Safe Ride through the Activity and Service Fee could go to plenty of different places if KnightDrive turns out to be a success, such as more free testing supplies for students or new on-campus programs and clubs.

“KnightDrive is a really good idea,” says Love. “It definitely has the potential to be better than Safe Ride.”

Article by Nicole Lauber

In 2005, Innovation Way was proposed to East Orlando residents. The county had plans to develop a balance between homes, workplaces, a transportation system and green space in a high-tech corridor connecting the University of Central Florida and the Orlando International Airport.

“It was supposed to be a real smart growth concept,” says Suzanne Arnold, the publicity committee chair of the Lake Mary Jane Alliance in Southeast Orange County.

Since its announcement and subsequent planning meetings and visioning studies, the project has been slowed numerous times due to various issues, from land development concerns to road controversies. What’s really  the going on with Innovation Way?

One controversy stems from developers asking to expand boundaries of Camino Reale and Innovation Way East, two rural neighborhoods north of Lake Mary Jane on the west of the planned corridor. According to Arnold, the original plan was to have the most development at Innovation Way. Since the initial plans were finalized, Innovation Way has split into two unofficial roads, currently referred to as Innovation Way North and Innovation Way South, in order to possibly accommodate for the Camino Reale and Innovation Way East “neighborhoods,” but both of these properties are outside of the urban service area - an area that already has existing water, sewer and electrical systems in place, according to Arnold.

“They were not part of the original intent when the plan was made, and now they’re both coming in asking for the urban service to be expanded,” says Arnold.

“Every time they expand the border, that means they have to expand the urban services,” she says. “In these times when we have no budget anyway, how can we expand the urban service area?”

Although the majority of residents within the Lake Mary Jane Alliance, which is a group dedicated to protecting the rural area of neighborhoods surrounding Lake Mary Jane, were supporters of a smart growth plan, they don’t support the new plans says Arnold.

“I think a lot of them feel it’s way too premature to be supporting anything beyond this original plan right now, because it’s so extreme,” she says. “Both plans have a lot of development that they want farther down in the areas that were supposed to remain rural.”

Arnold says nobody knew that land between Turkey Creek and the Econ River would see any major developments, but now developers are trying to get this land approved to build on. “If we knew that they wanted to start developing there, we wouldn’t have approved it,” she says.

As for the area of Innovation Way farther east, around the Alafaya Trail and Waterford Lakes areas, the county and land developers are still working on a deal to acquire, zone and finalize the necessary land for the region as Mayor Richard Crotty recently said he will oppose all plans to build more urban service areas.

Many residents of the area are unsure of what the plan exactly is, much less its current status. “You know, I’m not sure what’s going on with Innovation Way or even, what it really is supposed to be,” says Cecily Hernandez, a Waterford Lakes area resident. “Every now and then I hear all talk about it but I don’t really get it; yeah, it’s a corridor focusing on tech jobs and houses, but what else?”

For Hernandez, all she knows is that there is controversy over a road at the end of Alafaya Trail. “Nobody wants to build the road up there until there is business but no businesses want to come until the road is up,” she says. “It’s like when you’re a kid and you’re supposed to save to buy a car but you can’t get a job because you have no way to get there. Something has to give.”

Still, interest and application of the corridor is progressing, slowly. “The county set it up initially with a balance in mind, and that plan I think would have been successful,” says Arnold. “I think there’s still a lot of it that can be successful. They just need to follow the original plan.”

Article by Nicole Lauber

Central Florida is finally taking passenger rail from a plan to a reality with the commuter rail system known as SunRail and a recently announced high-speed rail that will run from Orlando to Tampa. So, now that we know we’re going to be riding the rails, what’s the next step?

The first segment of the 61.5 mile SunRail corridor system is expected to be up and running by late 2012 and includes a 31 mile segment of track between DeBary and Sand Lake Road. Stations in this segment will include Lake Mary, Winter Park, Florida Hospital and Church Street, to name a few. The next segment of the track is scheduled to open in late 2014 and include stations in Osceola.

In the near future, as far as funding is concerned, capital costs for the system - about $615 million - are shared. “Federal funding covers 50 percent, state funding covers 25 and the local funding partners cover the remaining 25,” says Kelley Teague, director of public affairs and strategic planning for MetroPlan Orlando. “To provide some context, the City of Orlando is committed to spending about $68 million over the next 30 years on SunRail. That’s a little more than $2 million per year - roughly the same amount Orange County spends on sidewalks each year.”

Ultimately, each local funding partner will decide how to allocate and generate their dollars toward the project, meaning a dedicated funding source has not yet been selected for future maintenance and operations costs.

“SunRail is the spine of a much broader future passenger rail system in Central Florida,” says Teague. “The system, which connects 15 percent of the state’s population, two of the region’s largest employers and four different counties, provides a strong foundation for future connections.”

As for the high-speed rail project, the story really starts about a decade ago when Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment mandating the development of a high-speed passenger rail network linking the state’s major population centers.

“Significant investments were made during I-4 reconstruction projects, preserving a corridor in the median of I-4 for future rail use,” says Teague, thanks in part to a study entitled the Final Environmental Impact Statement. “The Orlando International Airport also created an ‘envelop’ reserved for a future high-speed rail connection.”

Last year, President Obama announced a high-speed rail vision as part of the stimulus package. As part of a competitive process to develop a nationwide program of high-speed passenger rail, $8 billion became available for funding.

The state was recently awarded $1.25 billion in federal funds as something of a down payment to begin the project. “And, $1 billion a year has been budgeted to support the systems for the next five years in the federal budget,” says Teague. Capital costs for the first Orlando to Tampa segment are expected to be fully funded by federal dollars. Funding following the federal dollars has yet to be finalized.

The next step involved for both systems will be ironing out the supplemental services required to make them a success, such as stations, bus routes and parking. To make a true multimodal transportation system work correctly, a strong ground transportation system must be in place leaders, say. “Just as our road network requires connectivity, from highways to arterial roads and local roads, an effective passenger rail system will also include connectivity,” says Teague.

According to her, work is already underway to identify and advance projects to support passenger rail in Central Florida. MetroPlan is proceeding with a streetcar/bus rapid transit study to identify the best connections to the SunRail line.

Additionally, the SunRail project itself includes increased bus service to feed the station stops. LYNX will also be receiving funding from the Department of Transportation to supplement existing services. How that will play out with an estimated seven percent budget cut from Orange County remains to be seen.

“We’re planning and looking to ensure that we can put as much service into the stations and surrounding areas where people want to go so it’s convenient for everyone,” says Tony Walter, director of planning and development for LYNX. “That’s the key to the whole thing is having connections that get people to where they want to go.”

Article by Corey Gehrold

For many residents of Bithlo, life is hard. Jobs are scarce and opportunity seldom comes knocking. Many residents lack the necessary education and training required to obtain full-time positions. The jobs they can find are often too far away to even consider walking and many lack a form of motorized transportation.

Many rely on LYNX to get from place to place, day to day. In 2009, LYNX replaced regular bus service to the area with their PickUpLine program due to budget constraints. This year, as the county faces a reported $70 million shortfall, LYNX funding may again be cut by an estimated seven percent, along with many other Orange County departments. The public transportation service operates without a dedicated source of funding and must depend on the counties it services to provide operating revenue on a yearly basis.

In the meantime, LYNX has provided the Bithlo area with the PickUpLine, a smaller shuttle vehicle where riders must schedule appointment times to be picked up and dropped off two hours in advance while traveling only within the line’s designated area.

Today that PickUpLine is the only form of transportation between the Bithlo and Christmas areas of East Orange County into the more industrious Waterford Lakes, Alafaya Trail and UCF communities. How has the change in service fared? Well, that depends on who you ask.

“It’s just very inaccessible,” says Tim McKinney, executive vice president of United Global Outreach, a local non-profit that has selected the Bithlo area for their revitalization efforts. “There are thousands of people that live east of Lake Pickett that are literally cut off from the rest of the world.” According to McKinney, the residents of Bithlo lose their connection to civilization, and to jobs, without a consistent service to take them back and forth at a convenient time.

“I challenge one of the county commissioners or the mayor to use the PickUpLine to go to and from work and function in their daily lives to see if they really were able to be productive,” says McKinney.

On the other hand, LYNX contests that the PickUpLine is actually a superior service to the residents of the largely rural area. “Instead of having to walk to a bus stop, they walk to their curb and the service picks them up and drops them off wherever they want to go within the service area, as long as they schedule the times within enough notice,” says Matt Friedman, manager of media relations for LYNX. “It’s actually a better service for these people at a cost savings to Orange County.”

That savings comes in the form of smaller vehicles that are easier to drive, less overall vehicle maintenance and cheaper operations costs. “You look at all the routes we have and if people aren’t riding them, we have to get rid of them,” says Friedman. “No one was been cut off; their service has been adapted.”

As county officials scramble to find budget dollars without adjusting taxes, the proposed cuts may affect public safety the most, something many residents are not happy about. “If it comes down to funding a bus or keeping my family safe, I’m sorry for everyone that uses the bus, but I’m voting to keep my family safe,” says Charles Lawrence of Lake Nona.

For Bithlo residents though, many were unaware of the PickUpLine services available to them. “I never got any information or knew anything about it until I ran into the driver at the store and asked him about it about two weeks ago,” says longtime Bithlo resident Linda Pate. A retired mother of three who is legally blind, Pate has missed six doctor’s appointments because of a lack of transportation in the past several months. “I’ve had to rely on other people to pick me up and drop me off anywhere I wanted to go; I had to fit into their schedules and give them gas money.”

Since finding out about the PickUpLine service, Pate has used the bus line without much complaint, save for the price. “People out here just don’t have very much money to do anything, myself included,” she says.  “You get to a point where the brick wall gets too high, and you can’t climb it. I don’t know the answers but I know some of the problems.”

Article by Corey Gehrold