During the January 25 Clermont City Council meeting, the council rejected the proposal that would allow The VUE, a 31-acre project located west of the Miss Florida Avenue and Hooks Street intersection, north and south of Hooks Street, directly north of the East Ridge High School baseball field, to move forward.
The 31-acre overall project would consist of a multi-family proposal of 292 total units. The applicant requested 220 multi-family units within the project on the north side of Hooks Street and 72 multi-family units on the south side of Hooks Street. The overall project would be developed at a density of 11.45 units per acre.
The multi-family project to the north would consist of four-story buildings. The project to the south would consist of three-story buildings. The multi-family project to the north would be a separate project from the south project and developed by two different developers.
The applicant also requested a cut/fill waiver to be transferred to the property south of Hooks Street that is being added to the project for development. This was never presented to council for consideration in the past since this parcel was always designated as stormwater/open space. The cut/fill plan indicated approximately 35% of the area for the south development plan would exceed the City’s 10-foot limitation. In addition, a terraced retaining wall was proposed on this portion of the site. The cross-sections walls could be up to 13 feet in height.
The city staff recommended denial of the proposal noting: The density and intensity of the project with the multi-family units would create an additional area of cut and fill. The proposed retaining walls in the project would not preserve the natural topography and the secondary emergency access point on the southern portion has not been provided. Therefore, staff recommended denial.
Although council members agreed that affordable housing is needed; after lengthy discussion which included traffic congestion, the durability of retaining walls, the natural topography, council voted 3-2 to deny the request. (Councilmembers Bates, Entsuah, and Pines voted against the request. Mayor Murry and Councilmember Purvis voted to approve).
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