Featured Apartment:
Orlando - 1 bedroom - 1 bath - spacious, clean & sunny unit! - Brick Building - Hardwood Floors - Modern Kitchen - Spacious Living Room - Large Bedroom w/ Double Sliding Door Closet - Updated Bathroom - Off Street Parking - access to commuter rail, bus, shops & restaurants, first and last months rent (NO SECURITY DEPOSIT) View More Listings -->
Windermere is a town in Orange County, Florida, in the United States. As of
the 2000 census, the town population was 1,897. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau's 2004 estimates, the town had a population of 1,958. Windermere was
established in 1889, and works hard to retain a small town feel. It was once the
hometown of famous professional golfer Tiger Woods. However, many celebrities
such as Woods actually live in the Isleworth gated community/subdivision which
is actually outside the city limits of Windermere but utilize the Windermere
mailing address.
Transportation
Windermere is located in a narrow place between several lakes in the Lake Butler
chain. As such, it is on the shortest road route between the east and west sides
of the chain. In fact, the next crossing to the south is 7.5 miles (12 km) south
at Lake Buena Vista, where County Road 535 (CR 535) and Apopka-Vineland Road
meet. The next crossing to the north is at Gotha, the north end of the chain of
lakes, 2.25 miles (3.5 km) to the north. 2003 Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT),
much of which is commuters passing through, is 17,197 vehicles per day for Sixth
Avenue (the east entrance), 18,362 on Main Street north of Sixth Avenue, and
9,484 on Main Street south of Sixth Avenue.
As a small town, prideful of its character, Windermere tries to regulate traffic
and encourage traffic to use alternate routes. Some of Windermere's traffic
calming techniques, including limiting traffic to residents, have been
determined to be illegal. All roads in the downtown area (laid out in a grid)
are dirt roads except for a few through roads:
* Main Street from the northern boundary (as Maguire Road, which heads north to
Ocoee) south to 12th Street; the pavement turns west at 12th Street onto Chase
Road, which connects to CR 535
* Sixth Avenue east from Main Street to the town line, where it becomes
Conroy-Windermere Road
* Second Avenue west from Main Street (serves a peninsula)
* "Dirt Main Street", just west of Main Street (opposite where the railroad used
to run), from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue
* Several other paved roads exist in the outskirts, in areas that have been
annexed since the original town was formed.
Until the 1980s, Main Street north of Sixth Avenue and Sixth Avenue east of Main
Street were maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) as
part of State Road 439 (SR 439). This was given to Orange County as CR 439, and
Orange County eventually removed all signs and gave the part inside Windermere
to the town. Signs put up by FDOT still mark the north end of CR 439 at SR 50,
but no other signs exist, in part because Orange County has a general policy of
not signing county roads.
Three four-way stops are in the downtown area, all on Main Street - at Fifth
Avenue, Sixth Avenue and 12th Avenue. The large amount of traffic during rush
hours causes a great deal of congestion, especially as more housing developments
are built west of Windermere (particularly the planned Horizon West New Urban
community).
Some drivers try to avoid the jams by taking alternate routes via the dirt
roads, but Windermere made that illegal on July 13, 2004 for all but local
traffic by passing Ordinance 2004-07. The meaning of "local traffic" was
clarified by Ordinance 2005-02, passed March 8, 2005, by defining it as traffic
originating or terminating within the town limits. All side roads east of Main
Street have signs at Main Street and Sixth Avenue allowing "local traffic only"
from 07:00 to 09:00 and 15:00 to 18:00, with a penalty of $200 for violating the
law. A grace period was provided during which violators were given a warning.
The law or signs do not specify that it is only in effect weekdays, though the
purpose of the law was to keep commuters on the main roads during rush hours.
The Florida Midland Railroad, part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, used to
run just west of Main Street; there is now a large grassy area between Main
Street and the dirt road (often called Dirt Main Street) that ran just west of
the railroad. Windermere had a station on the railroad.
No Lynx bus routes serve Windermere.
Geography
Windermere is located at 28°29′48″N, 81°32′2″W (28.496581, -81.533781)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.9
km˛ (1.1 mi˛), all land.
Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 1,897 people, 704 households, and 561
families residing in the town. The population density was 654.0/km˛
(1,688.2/mi˛). There were 723 housing units at an average density of 249.2/km˛
(643.4/mi˛). The racial makeup of the town was 95.68% White, 1.27% African
American, 0.05% Native American, 2.00% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.69%
from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.53% of the
population.
There were 704 households out of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18
living with them, 70.3% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a female
householder with no husband present, and 20.2% were non-families. 17.3% of all
households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was
65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average
family size was 3.05.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.5% under the age of 18, 5.1%
from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 30.5% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65
years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there
were 104.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $88,809, and the median income
for a family was $105,737. Males had a median income of $80,693 versus $37,321
for females. The per capita income for the town was $51,370. About 2.4% of
families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0%
of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.