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Disney's rumored project now is on paper
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted December 16, 2006
Bulldozers might soon push around dirt in an area called Walt Disney World's "Western Beltway Development," but they would not be preparing the land for any immediate construction.
Reedy Creek Improvement District filed paperwork Thursday seeking state permission to clear and excavate a small part of a 330-acre site at the interchange of the new State Road 429 expressway and Disney's Western Way entrance road.
This fall, unconfirmed Internet reports pinpointed the area as a future Disney hotel, condominium, shopping and dining district known as the "Western Beltway Development." Disney officials would not discuss plans for the site, and until now would not acknowledge a "Western Beltway Development" exists.
The grading application filed Thursday with South Florida Water Management District publicly names the area as "Western Beltway Development," defines it as 330 acres and identifies it with maps. The application includes a consultant's report that says the site likely would be for "hotels, clubs, restaurants and similar tourist commercial use."
If developed, the site would effectively expand Walt Disney World to the west, creating a commercial center at the resort's new western entrance.
Disney and Reedy Creek officials said Friday that the proposed excavation work is not to prepare the site but to provide dirt that is needed elsewhere, at a grading project along Celebration Boulevard. Any resulting prep work at the Western Beltway Development would be "on a very preliminary basis," said Reedy Creek Executive Director Ray Maxwell.
Before Disney could build anything, Reedy Creek would have to approve development plans.
"From what I understand, it's still at corporate being reviewed," Maxwell said.
The grading application's maps outline Western Beltway Development as filling out the four corners around the new interchange and stretching eastward to Disney World's current boundary and westward across Hartzog Road. The application seeks permission to grade 31 acres of "remnant citrus groves" west of Hartzog.
Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted December 16, 2006
Bulldozers might soon push around dirt in an area called Walt Disney World's "Western Beltway Development," but they would not be preparing the land for any immediate construction.
Reedy Creek Improvement District filed paperwork Thursday seeking state permission to clear and excavate a small part of a 330-acre site at the interchange of the new State Road 429 expressway and Disney's Western Way entrance road.
This fall, unconfirmed Internet reports pinpointed the area as a future Disney hotel, condominium, shopping and dining district known as the "Western Beltway Development." Disney officials would not discuss plans for the site, and until now would not acknowledge a "Western Beltway Development" exists.
The grading application filed Thursday with South Florida Water Management District publicly names the area as "Western Beltway Development," defines it as 330 acres and identifies it with maps. The application includes a consultant's report that says the site likely would be for "hotels, clubs, restaurants and similar tourist commercial use."
If developed, the site would effectively expand Walt Disney World to the west, creating a commercial center at the resort's new western entrance.
Disney and Reedy Creek officials said Friday that the proposed excavation work is not to prepare the site but to provide dirt that is needed elsewhere, at a grading project along Celebration Boulevard. Any resulting prep work at the Western Beltway Development would be "on a very preliminary basis," said Reedy Creek Executive Director Ray Maxwell.
Before Disney could build anything, Reedy Creek would have to approve development plans.
"From what I understand, it's still at corporate being reviewed," Maxwell said.
The grading application's maps outline Western Beltway Development as filling out the four corners around the new interchange and stretching eastward to Disney World's current boundary and westward across Hartzog Road. The application seeks permission to grade 31 acres of "remnant citrus groves" west of Hartzog.
Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.
