St. CLOUD, Fla. – The St. Cloud City Council was to vote Thursday night to approve preliminary plans for two new subdivisions that would add 123 homes to the area.
One subdivision which would be located off South Narcoossee Road, a street already facing heavy traffic, was pulled from the agenda at the request of the developer while the other, which would be on Old Hickory Tree Road near Gramercy Farms Boulevard, was approved as part of the consent agenda.
Narcoossee Road currently handles about 58,000 cars daily, exceeding its designed capacity of 55,000 vehicles, raising concerns among residents about worsening congestion.
Resident Jay Sizemore is concerned about the impact more people and cars will have on the quality of life in the city.
“Quit building, get infrastructure, and then maybe that’ll alleviate some of the traffic,” Sizemore said. “It’s too much. We don’t have the infrastructure. The traffic’s insane. It’s just getting out of control.”
[CONGESTION: Is a toll road what Narcoossee now needs?]
The subdivision on Old Hickory Tree Road would include 54 houses while the one south of Chisholm Park off Narcoossee Road would convert over 25 acres into 69 single-family homes.
This vote came just weeks after Osceola County approved building 289 new homes near Narcoossee and the Orange County line.
Sizemore fears the development will continue to increase and may prompt him to move away.
“I live probably 9 miles from work, and I need probably 45 minutes because in the morning rush hour, school buses, and it’s just, it’s got out of hand,” he said. “It’s not going to stop. It’s not going to stop for a lot of people, including myself. You know, I’m a little bit older, so I’m getting close to retirement when I retire, and I’ll probably leave.”