How Orlando is ruining W.D. Judge Road neighborhood, and the Wekiva River

What does Orlando’s Mercy Drive/W.D. Judge Road area have in common with Central Florida’s pristine Wekiva River?

The health of both depend on preserving a wooded wetland on W.D. Judge Road that is being torn apart to make way for Princeton Oaks – a 1-million-square-foot warehouse complex.

What many people don’t realize is that the wooded area (shown in the accompanying photo) is the starting point for the Little Wekiva River – one of the main sources for the environmentally sensitive Wekiva River.

Houses opposite construction site

Even though the 120-plus acre parcel on W.D. Judge Road is covered by a state law – the Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act – the Orlando City Commission voted unanimously to allow the developer to move forward with the Princeton Oaks project.

The site is in Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill’s district. When Dr. W. Jones asked Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer why the city allowed the massive project to be built in her neighborhood, she said he responded: “That is where we always put them.”

A glance at an Orlando land use map shows that many of the city’s huge warehouses and other industrial buildings are in – or next to – African-American neighborhoods.

Dr. W. Jones lives in Evergreen Park, a long-established African-American community across the street from the Princeton Oaks site. The community is barely outside the city in unincorporated Orange County.

Dr. Jones started a grassroots community environmental organization that is suing the city and the developer to stop the construction of the warehouse that will add at least 700 tractor-trailer trucks daily to the narrow road (W.D. Judge Road) that separates their homes from the warehouse site.

The lawsuit accuses the city and developer of violating state law and wrongfully placing the warehouse complex in the middle of a neighborhood.

“This (land) is part of the Wekiva Springshed,” Dr. Jones explained, “so the rainwater that falls on this land soaks down and becomes groundwater.” The groundwater travels down and eventually reaches the aquifer, Florida’s underground river. The water returns to the surface as it flows out at Wekiwa Springs.

Boaters enjoying the Wekiva River

“When we have spoken in opposition to this,” said Dr. Jones, “it wasn’t just the people in my neighborhood. It was also people who live downstream on the Wekiva because this development is going to negatively impact all of our property values, and it’s also going to negatively impact the quality of the Wekiva River where they live.”

Dr. Jones knows what she’s talking about. She holds a doctorate in ecology and conservation.

The destruction of the woods has driven away the wild animals that used to breed, feed and make their homes in that habitat – including migratory birds and gopher tortoises that are both protected by federal law.

In addition, Dr. Jones said developing the site increases the danger of flooding and sinkholes in her neighborhood that is just 75 feet across W.D. Judge Road from the site.

Rendering of warehouse project

The mosquitoes and other insects that used to live in the woods have moved across the street to the neighborhood. The trees in the woods used to absorb some of the summer heat. Now that the trees are gone it has become noticeably hotter in their neighborhood. Now neighbors must keep air conditioning running all the time and that creates a negative economic impact.

Nearly 2,000 trees have been removed for the warehouse project. The dust stirred up by the ongoing construction work added to the misery of residents. People in the neighborhood have suffered asthma flare-ups, severe allergies and other serious respiratory related illnesses.

Neighbors complain that sometimes work on the construction site continues until 3 in the morning with heavy equipment roaring under bright lights.

“This is destroying our community,” Dr. Jones said. “we have people who – especially right here on W.D. Judge – who cannot live this way with all this construction noise and dust and the expectation of having semi-trucks up and down the road 24/7 and the lights that will be on this project. Now they feel they are being forced to move because they can’t stand this.”

Dr. Jones noted that a few years ago the city launched the Green Works Orlando program to encourage environmental stewardship and sustainability.

“This (Princeton Oaks project) is completely opposite the goals of the city’s Green Work Orlando program,” Dr. Jones said.

In response to complaints by residents, a city spokeswoman wrote: “The City Council carefully considered public input, the area’s predominantly industrial uses, the project’s inclusion of environmental protections and the requirement the project comply with all state and local environmental regulations to make a fair and balanced decision that follows the letter of the law.”

Dr. Jones and her neighbors disagree. “this is a case of environmental injustice because it’s a situation where the communities that are being impacted are communities that typically can’t afford to hire an attorney for three years to keep this in litigation to stop them from doing this.”

The lawsuit to stop the construction on the site and have the vegetation restored is to be heard on Sept. 14.

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