Orange County votes to rezone land to make way for new high school

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County commissioners voted Tuesday to rezone land to make way for a new school in Lake Nona to relieve overcrowded classrooms at their meeting on Tuesday.

The land sits right outside Beacon Park and may be the future home of the Meadow Woods east area relief high school. The board rezoned the 55 acres of property from industrial to educational use.

The new high school would relieve Cypress Creek High School, which is overcrowded by more than 500 students and is projected to keep growing over the next 10 years.

Parent Heather Ibarra said she would welcome the new high school.

“I have a teenager that's going to school across town right now at Windermere High School, so it would be nice to have the school close,” she said.

But not all area residents are on board with the change.

Rosa Barbon has lived in the neighborhood for eight years and said she is worried about things like traffic.

The new school is not currently in the school system's 10-year plan. But, if the growth in the current Cypress Creek zone accelerates, building the new school would become a priority.

The zoning change would not affect the two new high schools already in the district’s building plan slated to open in 2022.

Cox Media Group