To improve the dangerous roads in Clermont, the Lake County Commission has advanced plans for a new 149-home lot that will reconfigure parts of the route.
The Lakeshore Drive corridors have been the site of several car accidents and several fatalities over the years due to high speeds, sharp intersections, winding curves, and inadequate planning measures.
“The bridge from Lake Shore 561 to the (Lake Susan) Bridge, essentially to the (Lake Susan) Bridge, has been a problem for many years,” he said at a meeting last week, according to a GrowthSpotter report. “Unfortunately, there are many deaths along that road.”
Lakeshore Drive Corridor experienced 37 crashes over five years from 2018 to 2022, with 21% neutralised or fatal injuries, according to a survey by an Orlando-based traffic and mobility consultant who conducted a traffic analysis for the project.
In December 2015, 26-year-old Clermont resident Aaron Zacharias was fatally hit across Lakeshore Drive. Another 44-year-old man from Clermont was hit and killed by an SUV on Lakeshore Drive in August 2018.
The Lakeshore Preserve project should help with the problem. As part of the approval process he planned the 94-acre plot along Lakeshore Drive, the project manager outlined the improvements to the roads to be completed along with the construction of the development.
According to Geoffrey McNeill, principal of AGMCI Planning and Urban Design, developer Andre Vidrine, the PUD Site Plan will reorganize the roads in front of Lakeshore Preserve and create a new traffic circle. This roundabout at the entrance to the subdivision – designed and built by developers – serves as a measure of traffic calmness and is forced to slow down drivers.
The second roundabout at the Lakeshore and Y-shaped intersection of CR 561, which will be built by the county, is ready for construction in 2026, according to officials with the county’s road operations department.
McNeill told the Commissioners that “it will create great value for this project as a contribution to public health, safety and welfare.”
The commissioner voted 4-1 on his first reading on July 1 to change the future land use of the property from the rural future land use category, or PUD, and proceed with the project. Once the application clears the state review, the commissioner will schedule a final vote.
“If we can put this all together, we can get the improvements we need to make right now,” said Chairman Leslie Campion. “Whether or not they add 145 homes and do nothing, they need to be made. They need to be made right now.”
Lakeshore Preserve is located south of Lakeshore Drive and west of Autumn Avenue. The proposed site plan requires lots that are 65 to 120 feet wide, including six lots of Lake Nelly.
Future land use requires at least 40% of the development to remain open space, and up to 50% are committed to open space if PUDs are adopted. As part of Pud Rezoning, approximately 59 acres within the green swamp of concern of critical conditions remain permanently underdeveloped.
Commissioner Anthony Sabatini argued that the only vote for the subdivisions and that increasing density and accepting lakeshore conservation projects were not necessary to resolve road problems.
“I completely reject the false dichotomy of increasing density and destroying the borderline green swamp country character to mitigate traffic patterns,” he said. “If anything, it exacerbates traffic patterns. You can fix traffic issues without constantly tinkering with your comp plans to destroy agricultural areas within the county.”
Sabatini said the area was “overdeveloped” and an example of unnecessary sprawl that further exacerbates the county’s character.
“That’s the biggest problem. We’re making the decision to destroy the county’s identity here,” he said. “This place will be anywhere else. There is no ‘there’ there.’ It would just be a boring, mediocre, malfunctioning suburban nightmare. This is a very, very small but clear step. ”
Campione disagreed.
“I think the fact that we can fix very serious traffic issues in this area as a result of the Lakeshore Drive, which is a victory,” Campione says. “It offsets the drawbacks of adding units. In fact, you create a better situation that helps many people across the region.”
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