Historic archways approved for Park Avenue
The signs are a legacy project spearheaded by longtime Planning Director Jeff Briggs
June 27, 2024
By Beth Kassab
A $400,000 installation of archway signs on both ends of Park Avenue is underway with the City Commission’s approval on Wednesday of a vendor for the job.
Don Bell Signs of Port Orange was selected to create the archways with $200,000 in public dollars from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency and the other half covered by private donations.
Jeff Briggs, who is retiring after 47 years in the city’s planning department, recruited the private dollars himself for the project he sees as a legacy for historic preservation.
He noticed other cities had highly-visible signage to showcase their history but Winter Park had none.
“These will be landmark signs,” he said, noting others are now already in place at Dinky Dock, the Winter Park Women’s Club and other locations.
The private donors, who contributed $25,000 each are: Mike and Gail Winn; Larry and Joy Williams; Allan Keen; Rick Baldwin; Jim Barnes; the Joe & Sarah Galloway Foundation; the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and the Morse/Genius Foundations.
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Thank you for the generosity of the private donors!
What a wonderful idea to benefit everyone in the community. And a big thank you for Mr. Briggs and the donors who are making Winter Park a bit more beautiful.
Am I the only resident who thinks this looks a bit ostentatious? Or at least overly self-conscious. Are we the city of culture and heritage, or the city of marketing and promotion?
The Park Ave. merchant district is not the entirety of Winter Park. It is not even our only merchant district. If ornate branded archways are deemed desirable to draw tourists to this strip, they should at least say “Park Avenue” and not just “Winter Park.”
And nearly half a million dollars? Holy cow, let’s fill some pot holes first.
@Kathy: Agreed. Park Ave isn’t near any city line, so I don’t know why the sign is welcoming people to Winter Park (and not Park Ave) when they’re already well inside the city limits. I’d rather see the city work toward making it safer to cross anywhere on Fairbanks on foot.
C’mon folks this is not a big deal! Do you want a sign over Lee Road or Fairbanks Ave welcoming people to Historic Winter Park. That would be embarrassing! And half the money for the proposed sign was raised from private donations. So if you want those pot holes fixed, the City will gladly accept your donations. Shella I do agree with your point about crossing Fairbanks and that is currently in the works for Aloma, Brewers Curve and Fairbanks.
While I agree that the city should focus on fixing the streets, the sign actually says Historic City of Winter Park as opposed to Mega Mansion section of Winter Park or Strip Mall section, or Ranch Style section, or Chicken Row, or K-Mart plaza/Trader Joes Plaza!