Pulte Homes is moving forward on plans for a large-lot subdivision in the rapidly-growing area just north of the Crossroads at Kelly Park master-planned community.
The city’s planning commission unanimously approved the major development plan for Ondich North this month after the homebuilder and 1828 Engineering redesigned the project to create more open space.
Pulte’s original plan for the neighborhood, located on Ondich Road at the northwest corner of SR 453/SR 429, called for 197 detached homes on three different lot sizes, with the largest being 100-by-225 feet. After a DRC meeting last July, the builder submitted a revised plan that maintains the same unit count but eliminates the larger lots.
The latest development calls for 197 single-family homes on clusters of lots that are at least 75-by-130 feet (9,759 square feet minimum) within a defined development envelope. The city council is expected to hold a public hearing on the issue during its meeting at 1:30 p.m. April 1 in City Hall.
During the planning commission meeting, Jean Sanchez, project manager with the planning department, told commissioners the city has “very few” comparable subdivisions.
“They have this clustered site design that preserves a whole lot of green areas and will not be removing as many trees as we initially thought,” Sanchez said. “Staff has worked with the applicant pretty diligently with their site design plans.”
Plans for Ondich North provided to the Apopka Development Review Committee in March 2025 showed a linear layout with less open space for the 197 single-family homes on the north side of Ondich Road. (Site plan from Appian Engineering)
During Tuesday’s planning commission meeting, there was little discussion of the project, although Commissioner Wes Dumey said he was pleased with the redesign.
“I think the open space on this is fantastic,” Dumey said. “I really like the way that the property’s laid out so there are buffers between Ondich Road and the houses.”
Pulte did not respond to requests for comment. Attempts to reach Sanchez were unsuccessful.
The plans set aside about 62% of the development’s land as open space. That consists of a centrally located 2.35-acre amenity area — to be built in the first of the two-phase project — along with tree preservation tracts (79 acres), landscape buffers (16.5 acres), stormwater management ponds (18 acres) and passive open space (6.6 acres).
Plans for Ondich North provided to the Apopka Development Review Committee in July 2025 showed a clustered layout with more open space for the 197 single-family homes on the north side of Ondich Road. (Site plan from Appian Engineering)
Amenities that are required under the development agreement include a resort-style swimming pool, a pool cabana with restrooms, and a multipurpose trail system.
The project would be built on an assemblage of six parcels recently annexed into the city. The council has approved future land use and zoning amendments designating it as residential estates and planned development, respectively.
Fort Lauderdale-based investor Austin Forman owns a pair of the parcels and 106.5 acres that he inherited from his father, Charles Forman. PM S-1 REO LLC, which is affiliated with Tampa-based Morrison Grove Capital Advisors, owns two other parcels with a combined 71 acres, and local property owner Charles P. Stallings owns about 20 acres spread over two parcels.
Morrison Grove owns an additional 55 acres across the street on the southern side of Ondich. Plans for a 326-lot subdivision of townhomes and single-family houses called Ondich South have undergone multiple submissions to the city’s development review committee.
Ondich North and Ondich South would be located next to the roughly 200-acre Crossroads at Kelly Park master-planned community, which is between Round Lake Road and Effie Drive. Construction kicked off in 2023, and at full buildout, the development is expected to include 630 multifamily units, 670 single-family homes and a 4.9-acre commercial outparcel.
Crossroads at Kelly Park is just north of Wyld Oaks, a 230-acre master-planned community from developer Joseph Beninati at the intersection of Kelly Park Road and Golden Gem Road, just west of S.R. 429. The community is planned to include about 6,000 residential units, two hotels, multiple parks (including a new dog park concept) and 1.5 million square feet of industrial space. It will feature about 300,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space along with 20,000 square feet of medical office space occupied by AdventHealth, which expects to break ground on an ER this year.
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.