Regulatory Reform

To achieve Orange County's goal of stimulating the development of affordable housing for low and very low income households, the county has set up an expedited process for regulatory review of affordable housing development proposals. The process may reduce by 60 or more days the combined length of development review time required by the various divisions involved, such as Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA), Planning and Zoning and the Development Review Committee (DRC). All development applications certified by the Housing and Community Development Division as affordable housing are entitled to review in the expedited manner as follows:

BZA will reserve hearing slots on its agenda for certified developments.
Institutional reviews, if required, will occur within 10 working days after the cutoff date for accepting applications by the BZA.
Certified developments will bypass the Planning and Zoning Review Agenda process.
Pre-application meetings for affordable housing developments are to be scheduled within 10 working days after the necessary copies of the development plan are submitted to the Zoning Division.
Within three days of receipt of the necessary copies of the preliminary subdivision plans, the DRC will conduct a sufficiency review.
Within 30 days of completion of the sufficiency review, the DRC will schedule a final review.
Clerk to the Board will expedite any required public hearing of an affordable housing project before the Board of County Commissioners.

For additional information on Orange County's Affordable Housing Expedited Review process, please telephone the Division's Housing Development Section at (407) 836-5171.

Impact Fee Discount Program

Orange County was the first municipality in Central Florida to develop and implement an Impact Fee Discount Program. The program was designed as an incentive to increase affordable housing construction in Orange County and to assist in addressing the housing needs of low-income families. A discount is available on impact fees, sewer capital charges, and water capacity demand charges to developers and builders of affordable housing.

For single family homes a discount that is equivalent to 62% of the paid impact fee is provided. For multi-family homes a discount that is equivalent to 25% of the paid impact fee is provided. And for single family development located in a target area, Orange County will subsidize 50% of the total cost of the impact fees, as funds are available. In order to apply for the Impact Fee Discount Program, interested developers and builders must submit an application for certification as an affordable housing development to the Housing Development Section.

The sales price of a single-family home cannot exceed $125,000 for a new home.
The builder or developer must execute a developer's agreement with Orange County prior to issuance of building permits.
A developer's agreement is required to ensure that units receiving discount of fees are sold at an affordable price to qualified individuals or families.

If you are interested in obtaining additional information about this program, please contact the Division's Housing Development Section at (407) 836-5171.

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