Oviedo advances Reformed Seminary school student housing proposal

Concerns about traffic, stormwater management and a deteriorating fence surfaced Monday as the Oviedo City Council considered a proposal that would allow up to 163 student housing beds at Reformed Theological Seminary’s Oviedo campus.

The Council unanimously voted to schedule a public hearing for June 15 on the proposal, which would amend the development agreement governing the seminary’s 63.16-acre property near East Mitchell Hammock Road and Eastbridge Drive. 

If approved, the amendment would establish a maximum of 163 student housing beds on the campus, including up to 40 beds in a dormitory or “bunk house,” while maintaining the property’s existing cap of 120 multifamily units. Two detached single-family homes for caretaker and administrative use would also be permitted.

During the meeting, Kingsbridge resident William Ryan raised concerns about a deteriorating fence on another portion of the property and an environmental resource compliance violation filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District.

“Calls to the seminary to replace this fence or repair this fence have gone unanswered,” Ryan said. “This has left the residents to maintain it over the years.”

Other residents also expressed concerns about how additional development could affect the area. In a Facebook comment posted under Oviedo Community News’ preview of the proposal, Lisa Meves McCarthy questioned how it could affect stormwater management.

“It will be a shame to lose this heavily wooded area, but of more concern is how they are going to handle the water runoff that this large swampy area already handles without flooding Kingsbridge East when it rains,” McCarthy wrote.

Mayor Megan Sladek said the proposal is primarily an effort to update development standards written decades ago.

“All this started out in 1995, and here we are in 2026, and they’re like, ‘Well, these rules don’t make sense for the property anymore,’” Sladek said. “So they’re coming back asking for different rules, but they want to have their own custom rules all over again.”

Development Services Director Teresa Correa said the proposal would cap student housing on the property at 163 beds. The current development agreement limits the number of housing units that can be built but does not limit the number of residents who may occupy them. As a result, Correa said the property’s existing entitlements could theoretically allow more than 163 residents depending on how the units were configured.

Correa said the property is currently approved based on a university/college use of 750 students, a number she says was never realized. Under the proposal, that figure would be reduced to 200 students while allowing up to 163 student housing beds.

She also said the changes would slightly reduce traffic impacts compared with the property’s existing approvals.

According to Correa, the proposal would not alter the property’s access points, open-space requirements, maximum building height or conservation-area protections and the general layout of the site would remain unchanged.

The amendment was already reviewed by the Oviedo Local Planning Agency on May 5 and May 19.

“The LPA requested that the developer meet with the residents, and they held a meeting on May 13 to hear the community,” Correa said. “At the second public hearing, the LPA recommended approval.”

That fence issue resurfaced during the Council’s discussion of the proposal when Council Member Alan Ott asked whether the amendment would affect it.

City Attorney Wade Vose said the fence issue is separate from the proposed amendment.

“The potential adoption of this planned unit development amendment has no legal interaction with the fence issue that you’ve heard raised,” Vose said. “It has no interaction with ratifying any concerns anyone may have about the fence.”

The unanimous vote advances the proposal to a June 15 public hearing, when residents will have another opportunity to comment before the Council decides whether to approve the changes.

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