Osceola County currently has more than 236 active construction projects outstanding — including commercial, industrial and residential developments.

One of those projects that may soon come to fruition is the development of the Oaks Golf Club near Poinciana. 


What You Need To Know

  • The Oaks Golf Club has attracted many who like the open spaces and undeveloped land

  • The golf course operator is shutting down the course in May due to financial challenges, and part of the course is proposed for redevelopment with rental homes and for-sale townhouses

  • Locals are fighting the plan, citing rising traffic concerns and the environment as reasons to keep the community the same

Kothari Group, which owns the 134-acre plot of land, has submitted an application with Osceola County for a planned development amendment.

The plan is to turn 6 acres on the north end of the course into 50 single-family townhouses that will be for sale. While in the middle of the Oaks Golf Club, 35 acres would feature up to 400 single-story homes, ranging from 700 to 1,200 square feet each. The homes would be built for long-term rental, with rents expected to average $1,900 per month.

 

Anupam Kothari said he intends to donate more than half of the golf course, about 63% as recreational space.

“It comes up with around 45 acres of development and around 85 acres of open space," he said. "So that open space can be used by the community to perhaps run a 9-hole golf course if they wanted to — to put soccer fields, running trails ... and that can be deeded over to the community permanently.” 

Many homeowners in the Oaks Golf Club and surrounding community are not happy with the proposal.

Linda and Bill Thies say that living at the Oaks is like having a vacation that never ends, right in their backyard.

“To overlook the pond here, to see the cranes, the storks — it’s as if you can see very peaceful and very relaxing,” Linda Thies told Spectrum News.

The Thies retired from New Jersey to come live in Florida, but are far from being inactive. Linda is fighting to make sure her sanctuary doesn't look any different.

“This is truly now my forever home,” she said. 

Out in their little piece of paradise, looking at plans of what could be the foreseeable future, Linda said that the proposed development would destroy the feel of the area, and cost her money.

“It’s a travesty — it’s a travesty to every resident who has bought and invested, and I use the word investment cause this is our investment,” she said. 

Redevelopment is being proposed for 38% of the golf course tracts of her community.

Linda said she has written to several politicians in hopes of stopping the development, but said “nobody is listening.” 

She has even organized protests to bring more attention to the planned development.

She showed Spectrum News 13 pictures of a group of residents holding signs that read, “Save the Oaks National Golf Club. Say no to the planning board.”

Linda said she doesn't think many folks who live at the Oaks even know about the proposed plans. 

Linda said she can't believe "all of this is all gonna be built on. Everything you see here, in front of us, all of this.”

She even wonders if the neighborhood will have to drop "golf club" from its name. 

Mike Armel, the Oaks National Golf Club manager, said he intends to close operations in May due to financial challenges.

The games, the wildlife and the nature are all picturesque things Linda and her husband don’t want to give up.

“And to lose all of this, all of this green space, all of this beauty that we all bought into," she said. "And you can see how many homes actually overlook all of this all around. The word is devastating, the word is devastating.” 

Besides wildlife, another concern homeowners have brought up is congestion. A spokesperson for the Central Florida Expressway said that with the population growth Osceola is seeing nowadays, the roads are not able to keep up. 

There are several road related projects in the Poinciana area that may alleviate traffic. For example, CFX wants to widen Poinciana Parkway from two lanes to four, from Ronald Reagan Parkway to Cypress Parkway.

While the Florida Department of Transportation is working to improve conditions at the corner of U.S. 17-92 and Pleasant Hill Road. Nothing is set in stone but FDOT is currently evaluating possible options for that intersection.

The Kothari Group is hosting a virtual meeting with RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture (the planning and design team) along with a prospective developer, EDEN Living, to provide residents with details about the development.

The Oaks Plan virtual residents meeting is on April 27 at 6 p.m. Click here for more information.

Osceola County will have an in-person community workshop with the Oaks community on May 12 from 6:30-8 p.m. at Pleasant Hill Elementary School (1801 Jack Calhoun Drive Kissimmee, FL 34741), to discuss this major plan under review.