{"id":372964,"date":"2026-08-16T12:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372964\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T12:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:08:13","slug":"winter-springs-residents-worry-about-seminole-countys-plans-for-jetta-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/372964\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Springs residents worry about Seminole County’s plans for Jetta Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hours after Hurricane Ian stormed through Central Florida in 2022<\/a>, Mark Greenwald and his neighbors in Winter Springs watched as catfish, snakes and crayfish swam through their flooded yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never seen anything like that,\u201d Greenwald said this week. \u201cAll kinds of critters just flowing by.\u201d<\/p>\n

One homeowner used a kayak to navigate his way through the submerged streets, while another pulled an inner tube with his golf cart.<\/p>\n

Now, Greenwald and others in Winter Springs are worried that Seminole County may exacerbate the flooding threat.<\/p>\n

The county is moving to sell Jetta Point, a property it owns nearby and once eyed for a regional recreation site. If the land ultimately is used for commercial development, large rooftops and parking lots might lead to huge runoff problems.<\/p>\n

The property, a vacant 46-acre greenbelt of woods, grass and swamp just west of State Road 417, also sits along the south side of busy S.R. 434, which sees roughly 28,500 vehicles a day. And the Cross Seminole Trail, with scores of daily bicyclists and pedestrians, cuts through the western edge of the land.<\/p>\n

However, because Jetta Point sits at a slightly higher elevation, stormwater not captured by the surrounding ditches and underground pipes tends to flow west and southwest toward the neighboring homes. And in recent years, the flow of water has increased because of new development as far away as Oviedo, as well as increasingly powerful storm events dropping more rain.<\/p>\n

Residents and city officials say the county\u2019s aging stormwater infrastructure has not been regularly cleared and upgraded, and it\u2019s not designed to handle a sudden deluge of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not sell the property until all the drainage and stormwater issues have been addressed,\u201d said Victor Westhall, whose home on Peregrine Court abuts Jetta Point, to Seminole commissioners at a meeting last month.<\/p>\n

Seminole purchased Jetta Point in 2002 for $4.3 million with plans to build a sports complex, with help from a $1.7 million grant from the Florida Communities Trust.<\/p>\n

But in 2012, county commissioners nixed the project<\/a> after droves of nearby residents turned out to a meeting to protest a complex that would bring noise, traffic and bright lights, along with the destruction of eagles\u2019 nests.<\/p>\n

Four years later, Seminole decided to buy the shuttered 96-acre Rolling Hills golf course<\/a> near Altamonte Springs instead and turn it into a passive public park.<\/p>\n

To help pay for the purchase and development of Rolling Hills, Seminole asked state officials to lift and transfer the conservation restrictions placed on the Jetta Point property from the state grant to the former golf course property.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, Seminole would lose that state grant money once it dropped plans to build a complex and park at Jetta Point, county Manager Darren Gray said.<\/p>\n

Last month, Seminole commissioners finalized the exchange in an unanimous vote, paving the way for the land to be designated as surplus property and eventually put on the real estate market.<\/p>\n

But no decision has yet been made by commissioners on when to sell Jetta Point. Commissioners and county staff have not said whether anyone has inquired about purchasing the land for a development.<\/p>\n

Even so, Commissioner Jay Zembower pointed out that Jetta Point is within Winter Springs, therefore any future development \u2014 whether it\u2019s for stores and businesses or recreation \u2014 would have to be approved by the city, not Seminole County.<\/p>\n

Seminole also needs the benefits from a sale of the property, as well as a state grant, to build a county park elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe promise was made to the taxpayers of this county \u2013 not once but multiple times \u2013 that this property would be [sold] to fund improvements\u201d at the Rolling Hills park, Zembower said.<\/p>\n

Winter Springs Mayor Kevin McCann said \u201cthe most important thing\u201d is that nearby residents are protected from flooding. He urged county and city officials to work together on stormwater drainage along with Oviedo staff, whose city boundaries cross into a southern portion of Jetta Point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be thrilled if we could buy the property for preservation\u201d and a passive park, said McCann, estimating the purchase could cost up to $10 million. \u201cBut that\u2019s big money for us\u2026We might be able to chase down some grants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seminole Commissioner Lee Constantine suggested Jetta Point could be considered for purchase by the county\u2019s Seminole Forever land acquisition program.<\/p>\n

\"SignageSignage indicates a closed trail as Seminole County workers repair drainage on the Cross Seminole Trail at the Black Hammock Trailhead, off State Road 434 at S.R. 417, Wednesday, August 12, 2026. Residents worry that the 46-acre wooded greenbelt known as Jetta Point \u2014adjacent to the trail\u2014 will be sold off to developers by Seminole County, possibly worsening ongoing flooding concerns in the area. (Joe Burbank\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

To help prevent future flooding, Seminole crews this week visited Jetta Point and the adjacent Cross Seminole Trail \u201cto clean out any potential clogging\u201d on the ditches and stormwater drains, said Tawny Olore, Seminole\u2019s public works director.<\/p>\n

Nearby resident Mark Cordiner, a civil engineer, said that was a good step.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first half of this battle is to get Seminole County to clean out the infrastructure and bring it up to standards,\u201d he said. Whatever development happens, \u201cit\u2019s important that if any water flows out of Jetta Point, it flows into infrastructure that is designed to hold that much water. \u2026 And it will not impact our subdivision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hours after Hurricane Ian stormed through Central Florida in 2022, Mark Greenwald and his neighbors in Winter Springs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,114,266,115,139,141,140,1014,109],"class_list":["post-372964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-seminole-county","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372964","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=372964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}