PINE HILLS, Fla. \u2014 On Wednesday, for the first time, community members got a glimpse of what a re-imagined Pine Hills community it might look like.<\/p>\n
Orange County held two sessions to show off new renderings and get more feedback to continue work on the long-awaited improvements to Pine Hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this gives us hope for the future,\u201d said Julien Serrano-O\u2019Niel, the Pine Hills Community Council President.<\/p>\n
Community members say they are ready for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have heard so many negative things about our community and I am always one that is, ‘no, Pine Hills is a great community to live in.’ So I am excited. I am so excited to see what I see today,\u201d said Jacqueline Taylor who lives in Pine Hills.<\/p>\n
The renderings show what Orange County hopes to accomplish in Pine Hills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t we have areas where we are safe where we can walk? Why don\u2019t we have a coffee shop here? Why can\u2019t we have a smoothie place here?\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
More community spaces, economic development, multiple transportation options and more housing are priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are also looking at more homeownership. The goal is to reduce apartment style living and increase the expansion of homes,\u201d Serrano-O\u2019Niel said.<\/p>\n
The new LYNX SuperStop in Pine Hills could be a hub of activity, that way the city is more accessible.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also important for residents that the community expand without losing its identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make sure that businesses, citizens, residents alike have a voice,\u201d said Tamara Johnson, the Pine Hills Neighborhood Improvement District Executive Director. \u201cWe want to support what is existing here and help it be better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pride in Pine Hills is strong, and no matter what new buildings and businesses come, that will never change.<\/p>\n
\u201cPine Hills is Pine Hills; Pine Hills don\u2019t need to be like anyone else but Pine Hills,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n
All the information gathered at the two sessions on Wednesday will be put together in a report and presented this summer. Then, based on that, the county can work to bring more investment and development to Pine Hills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PINE HILLS, Fla. \u2014 On Wednesday, for the first time, community members got a glimpse of what a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2031,274,558,2161,2156,2287,115,1335,139,141,140,9429,278,14104],"class_list":["post-261144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-government","tag-growth","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sarah-winkelmann","tag-top-stories","tag-topic-latest-local-business-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}