On Thursday, the Orange County Planning Commission narrowly approved the proposed East Orlando Shelter, which provides much-needed beds for the homeless, but the history of property owners has raised questions about the project.
The proposal passed the Planning and Zoning Committee with a margin of 5-3, reported GrowthSpotter. This vote sets up a showdown before the county commission.
Kaleo Ministries was Harrell Rd, 1717. It was called Hope City Revuge, which operated a 6.2-acre facility. The former county firefighter S. closed the facility last March and filed a court statement saying the conditions raised “serious lifestyle safety issues” at Hope City Evacuation Center. The county argued that the facility lacked proper fire detection, prevention and control equipment, and that the department had long resisted fixing the issue.
Currently, Kaleo wants to build 120 emergency housing units, 120 transition housing units, a 9,000-square-foot drug treatment center and a 9,000-square-foot education and management building on the site. The facility will temporarily house young adults who have aged from the foster care system and others experiencing homelessness. Residents are allowed to live in the facility for up to two years before moving to permanent or alternative housing.
Firefighter William Farhatt said last year that authorities had tried to comply with the Kaleo Ministries with building standards, provide fire extinguishers, install smoke detectors on the buildings, and provide 24-hour “fire” logs to the currently shattered facilities. The Rev. Marcos Diaz of the Caleo Province argued that the housing was safe, but Farhat said the department did not comply with the county’s requests.
The latest project took place before the Planning and Zoning Committee in January. After more than three hours of discussion and public comment, the committee voted to continue the items until March, allowing the applicants sufficient time to prove they had addressed the ongoing code enforcement violation of the property, including the presence of tractor trailers illegally parked in the lawsuit, the presence of irregular junk trailers, and fraudulent storage containers.
During Thursday’s meeting, Chief Code Inspector Megan Marshall said the Kaleo Ministries have made progress towards addressing code violations. However, there are still unresolved code violations in real estate dating back to 2021. As a result, the department has fined more than $2 million.
“Millimeter-dollar fines are something we see (cut) when all properties become compliant, but now, repeated offender fines do not reduce the county,” she said. “I’ve never seen a case where we came and the construction department came and intervene.”
“I’m not aware when the Fire and Rescue Department had to pass through the County Attorney’s Office and request an emergency injunction to implement basic fire safety applications on the structure. We couldn’t get any other way to get compliance,” Farhat added.
The Hope City Shelter has not housed homeless residents since it was closed by the county more than a year ago. Some have questioned whether the organization is reliable considering the history of building law violations, but Diaz defended the records during the meeting, claiming that he lined up money to build new facilities through private funders. All he needs is approval from the county.
“Eight years before we were closed, we didn’t die. This was an orderly place,” he said.
Some P&Z members were willing to allow Kaleo Ministries to prove themselves.
“The reason I’m giving hopeful shelters a chance is because they’ve already tried to fix and address the issue of code compliance. They’re already there to help a very poor population. I think we need to give them the opportunity to do that.”
Diaz and planning consultant Kendel Keith at Oak Hill Planning Studios are calling for rezoning the property from agriculture to planned developments and modifying future land use from PD commercials/offices to PD commercials to allow for the construction of new shelters. County planning staff recommended approval of rezoning and land use amendments.
“From a staff perspective, we review things from a technical perspective, but we also look at whether the final proposed development is compatible with the surrounding development program. In this particular case, the application checked most of those boxes.”
The proposed facility generated considerable public opposition from neighbors who were concerned about how it would affect the safety of the neighborhood. Approximately 55 residents attended a community meeting for the proposed complex in September. There were only a few participants who were favorable for the project. Many neighbors have also questioned the reputation of Kaleo Province.
“We cannot be flexible in applying other factors to the decision-making process so that the board can,” Hill said. “Is this the right project? Do you trust the developers to do the right thing? These are things the board can consider in the decision-making process, but not what staff do.”
Despite the shortage of more than 1,000 shelter beds in the Orlando area, homeless shelters have almost always received a lot of opposition from the public.
Earlier this month, Orlando dropped plans for a controversial 300-bed SODO homeless shelter that used the dorm portion of the former Orange County Work Release Center at 130 W. Kaley St.
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