Disney’s first affordable housing project cleared a critical hurdle Tuesday — but just barely.

Just when it appeared Orange County commissioners might turn down a proposed land-use change needed to develop 114 Disney-owned acres into a 1,400-unit multifamily housing project in Horizon West, Mayor Jerry Demings took charge.

At his urging, commissioners voted 4-2 to send the proposed change in the county’s comprehensive land-use plan to Tallahassee for a state review, a mandatory step in the approval process.

Commissioner Nicole Wilson, whose west Orange district includes Disney parks and fast-growing Horizon West, cast a “no” vote on Disney Imagineering’s request for “transmittal.” Commissioner Emily Bonilla also voted no.

“I really wanted to hit the pause button, tap the brakes,” Wilson said after the meeting.

The commission chambers were filled to capacity with advocates of the project wearing green T-shirts bearing the slogan “Build Affordable Housing” on one side and opponents hoisting signs with their own slogans, “From Pixie dust to concrete: Not the Magic we expected” and “Not the Disney dream, just a corporate scheme” on the other.

Commissioner Mayra Uribe, who voted with the mayor, said the county needs affordable housing. The project has been hailed by those who say it is long overdue for the region’s entertainment giants to help solve the housing crisis their growth has helped create.

“When you hear public school teachers say they can’t afford to live near their schools, we have a crisis,” she said explaining her vote. “When over 60% of police officers don’t live in Orange County because they can’t afford to, we have a crisis.”

More than 1,000 of the 1,400 apartments will be reserved as affordable.

About 80% of those apartments will be one- or two-bedroom units. A one-bedroom apartment in the proposed development would cost a low-income renter about $900 a month, roughly $650 less than the cost of the average one-bedroom unit in Orlando, according to apartments.com.

Disney plans to put the development on land it owns along Hartzog Road north of the Flamingo Crossings Town Center.

Tajiana Ancora-Brown, director of external affairs for Walt Disney Resort, said the entertainment titan is donating the land but will not profit from the development which will be built and managed by a developer Disney picked. “We have a legacy of investing in Central Florida to make it a great place because, to us at Disney, it is home,” she said.

The Michaels Organization, a developer specializing in affordable housing projects, will own the development.

After the board’s decision, Disney emailed a statement from Ancora-Brown, who lives in Horizon West.

“We are responding to Orange County leadership’s call to bring more positive change to our community and have a plan that will make a meaningful impact,” she said. “We are pleased with tonight’s vote and look forward to continuing our efforts to bring affordable housing to Central Florida.”

More than 50 people signed up to speak, including two elementary-school children, both against the project.

Most neighbors in attendance wore red cardboard “No” buttons pinned to their shirts.

They said they were in favor of affordable housing but not the location, which has “low walkability” and no public transit. They worried their traffic-jammed roads may become impassable if the project is built as densely as proposed.

Others feared the impact on the community’s schools. A girl named Penelope wondered if her school would become so packed with students that she’d have to learn in a portable building, a common solution for school overcrowding.

Demings noted concerns about road congestion but said every commission district faces similar problems.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “We continually, as a community, have kicked the can down the road…Because we didn’t keep pace with the transportation infrastructure, you have what you have now.”

“I think we’re all committed here to trying to do something about it and in a timely manner,” the mayor said.

Among those who spoke for the housing project were a Habitat for Humanity CEO, a Salvation Army captain and Michael Hunter, former chairman of the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness. Hunter said he has long been an advocate for affordable housing, especially housing subsidized by large employers like Disney.

Supporters urged the board not to pass up the opportunity Disney has offered with their land donation.

The Michaels Organization will not seek impact-fee waivers or government funding for the development known as the Hartzog Road Attainable Housing Project, incentives commonly available to developers of affordable housing. ]That means the developer will pay to compensate for the project’s impact on roads and schools.

The board’s Tuesday decision is not the final word.

Wilson, a lawyer, said commissioners will hold another hearing, likely later this year, after the state review.

“There will be other opportunities for the public to weigh in,” she said. “There are issues to be worked through.”

Wilson said she was concerned that roads in the area are already near capacity.

Without public transit, “You can imagine what this is going to be like for people who live there,” she said.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com