What Orlando Wishes to
Accomplish in the SE Sector:

Preserving Nature

The Southeast Orlando Sector Plan area presents the City and the development community with significant environmental opportunities. The Southeast Plan area is situated between two regionally significant systems; the Econlockhatchee River (the Econ) and Boggy Creek. The site itself includes portions of two major drainage basins (Boggy Creek and Lake Hart), a connected system of lakes and small water bodies, high concentrations of wetlands, and a great diversity of plants and wildlife, many of which are protected by the City's Growth Management Plan and Federal and State regulations. Though much of this habitat forms contiguous corridors, some areas have been altered by agricultural conversion, ditching, and cattle grazing.

An opportunity exists in the Plan area to create a permanently protected ecological system that is both regionally significant and maintains the integrity of on-site drainage and wildlife corridors. Sensitive site planning will ensure that natural habitats are protected and natural features become an integral part of the community through a designated Primary Conservation Network. These resources will be treated as key amenities, rather than as edges to developments. Public access will be permitted while important natural features and sensitive habitats are preserved. Pedestrian and bicycle paths and trails will be constructed along creek, canal or wetland edge systems, thus serving a dual function of allowing public access to open space and providing paths to destinations along the edges of linear parks. Major public facilities, such as schools, parks, and recreation centers will be linked by these open space/bicycle and pedestrian trail systems. In the Southeast Plan area, there is an opportunity for open spaces to shape and enhance neighborhoods, to provide a scenic resource from roads, and to serve as permanent wildlife corridors.

Conclusion

In order to build and sustain a community, the City believes that new development in the Southeast Plan area must feature a mixture of land uses, which allow for increased accessibility, diversity, and opportunities for social interaction; all within the context of an integrated amenity framework. By drawing on the best features of older neighborhoods and the best new ideas of innovative architects and planners, we can design new neighborhoods and communities in ways that will empower and encourage people - by allowing a greater variety of land uses closer to work and home, by providing safe and successful walkways and bicycle pathways, by bringing people closer together through the provision and placement of social amenities, and by protecting the natural environment; collectively altering the actions that inevitably lead to the proliferation of sprawl development.

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