‘High-end’ car dealership could come to Oviedo after rezone passes

A gym currently operating just southwest of Oviedo may be turned into a “high-end” car dealership after the Seminole County Commission approved a rezoning for the property on July 14. 

The building located just behind a stand of trees at the corner of where S.R. 426 passes by Camp Road between Oviedo and unincorporated Winter Park is the 11,254 square-foot BioFit gym, first developed in 2019. But now the developer wants to turn it into a car dealership, requesting the property be rezoned from C-1 commercial retail to C-2 general commercial to allow the dealership. 

That didn’t sit well with some nearby residents, though the immediate properties next to the building are commercial and industrial. 

“We don’t think it belongs there,” nearby resident Marcos Tryzmel said. “Aloma is a main street, but this area is mostly residential.” 

He pointed to the neighborhoods nearby comprising hundreds of homes, mostly across S.R. 426. 

“I’m opposed to it,” he said. “A bunch of people in the community are opposed to it. I’m just here to say so. A dealership just doesn’t belong there. It’s not a restaurant. It’s not a gym. It’s a car dealership.”

Another nearby resident, Carolina Judge, wrote the Commission to say it didn’t fit, and supporting the BioFit business that would be pushed out if the building becomes a car dealership. 

“BioFit currently supports the local community and employs people from the surrounding area,” Judge wrote. “A gym is a neighborhood-serving business that brings value to residents through health, fitness, and local employment. Replacing that use with a car dealership would provide far less community benefit and would move the property toward a more vehicle-centered commercial use.”

Representing the applicant, attorney McGregor Love said that the property wouldn’t have cars for sale displayed outside, and that the Institute for Transportation Engineers trip rate calculation shows that there should be fewer cars going in and out of a car dealership versus a gym. 

“Along State Road 426, there’s a significant buffer of trees,” Love said. “If any cars were displayed there, they would not be visible from the right of way, so it makes outdoor display of vehicles impractical.” 

“So all vehicles for sale will be inside the building?” Commissioner Jay Zembower asked. “We would not have vehicles with streamers and flags and big numbers on the windshields being sold?”

“It’s intended to be a specialty car dealership,” Love said. 

“That’s what it sounds like; high end,” Zembower said.  

“That’s correct,” Love said. 

The rezoning passed 5-0. 

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