Monday, August 27, 2012

Drainage Documents for Cabana Bay Plot


 UPDATE: The following plans are only mass drainage plans/changes to the plots of land on Universal property. They do not reflect the final layout or plans of the Cabana Bay Beach Resort.

Universal has submitted documents to the South Florida Water Management District for "Basin Improvements" to the future site of Cabana Bay Beach Resort.  Recently, similar documents were submitted prior to the dewatering permits for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter additions at Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida.

http://my.sfwmd.gov/ePermitting/DetailedReport.do?recordId=1&showMenu=false

The documents for Cabana Bay's basin improvements are much more detailed than the Potter ones.  As you can see in the following photo, there clearly many parking spots.  You can also see the new and/or expanded ponds that are used to mitigate the loss of natural surface for when parking lots and foundations are poured.  What is unusual are the lack of any indication of the buildings, pools, etc.  Sure, there are the gray spaces within the parking lots, but none are identical and there is no clear main building, just tons of parking spaces.

©2012 Universal City Development Partners, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

Even more unusual is that both remaining expansion plots owned by Universal are taken up by this new project and mega-parking.  Will the hotel straddle Adventure Way?  Are the gray spaces nondescript on purpose but are where the hotel structures will be?
©2012 Universal City Development Partners, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
It could just be a placeholder to show the authorities where the new ponds will be. The original announcement of the resort said it would occupy 37 acres of the Universal Orlando Resort, but this plan clearly shows a vastly bigger area taken up by the resort. If this is indeed the plans, the resort would take up almost 105 acres of UOR.

On top of that, if these are the plans...who designed them? The original concept art of Cabana Bay gave out a feeling of well designed grounds and plenty of theming and foliage.

But these plans? They scream parking lots and concrete wastelands. Where's the potential for beauty here?

If you can shed any light on this matter, let us know.  As I live in Louisiana and am in the current path of Isaac, I may be incommunicado for a few days, but @Parkscope will be holding down the fort.

1 comment:

  1. They're just focusing on the parking lots because they make up most of the new impervious surfaces (where water won't soak through) for which extra pond capacity will be designed for. The reason they show 100+ acres on these "plans" (they're more like exhibits really) is because this area makes up the drainage basin (local drainage system) they are modifying.

    ReplyDelete