Winter Park Loses County Redistricting Fight
The city will remain in District 5 with the eastern rural stretch of Orange County represented by Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad
Oct. 15, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Winter Park lost its fight to move into one of the two newly-created county commission districts in a battle that largely pitted the needs of residents in the unincorporated and historically neglected area of Pine Hills against the more affluent city.
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and all four city commissioners attended the hours-long debate on Tuesday and lobbied the Orange County board, but it wasn’t enough to persuade the county leaders.
The County Commission voted 5-2 to adopt a new district map known as “Map 7B”, which leaves Winter Park, a city of about 30,000 residents, in District 5 with the rural eastern section of the county that runs all the way to the Brevard County line. The map breaks off Winter Park’s closest neighbor Maitland (population: 20,000) into the new District 7 with Eatonville (which also borders Winter Park with about 2,300 residents and is known as the nation’s oldest incorporated town founded by formerly enslaved people).
Commissioners Christine Moore and Mayra Uribe cast the dissenting votes with Mayor Jerry Demings and commissioners Kelly Martinez Semrad, Mike Scott, Nicole Wilson and Maribel Gomez Cordero voting in favor.
DeCiccio, a persistent advocate for Winter Park during months of redistricting meetings, argued the city has little in common with the rural areas. She and the other Winter Park officials wanted to be redistricted into District 7 along with their urban neighbors who often work together on public projects.
But an equally loud group of residents pushed to keep the status quo and argued the more affluent Winter Park would dominate the bigger, predominately Black and Hispanic community of unincorporated Pine Hills, which will also be part of District 7.
“Combining these communities under Map-1A would dilute the voting strength of Pine Hills residents and undermine their ability to elect candidates to understand and advocate for their needs,” said Delmarie Alicea, who lives in unincorporated Orange County and is a voting rights attorney for LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
Most people who emailed Martinez Semrad, who represents District 5, supported keeping Winter Park in her district, according to a Winter Park Voice public records request.
The commissioner received more than 85 signed emails with messages that had identical templates and said they were written “on behalf of Orange County’s young people.”
“The differences between Map 1 and Map 7 largely center around the preferences of affluent communities like Winter Park and Maitland versus the equitable representation of all communities across Orange County,” their emails said.
The redistricting debate comes after voters approved a referendum last year to increase the number of districts from six to eight, opening up two new elected seats on the board that pay more than $120,000 a year. The Orange County mayor serves as the ninth seat and is elected countywide.
More than 70 people signed up to speak at Tuesday’s meeting, which ran more than two hours, before the final vote.
Conceding she was in the “hot seat” was Martinez Semrad, who ultimately voted in support of keeping Winter Park in her district instead of moving it to District 7.
Martinez Semrad, who lives in east Orange County, won in 2024 with the support of Winter Park voters. As an underdog, she beat the better-funded former Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary.
Even Winter Park City Commissioner Kris Cruzada acknowledged Tuesday she was in a tough position to decide if Winter Park should get cut from her district.
“Winter Park and Maitland want Map-1A. East Orange County wants Map-7B. Our district commissioner has to choose between supporting the 48,000 in Maitland and Winter Park or supporting the greater number of east Orange County where she lives,” Cruzada said during public comment. “I don’t envy the decision.”
Earlier this summer, Martinez Semrad said she supported Winter Park remaining in her district. After receiving an overwhelming response from the public, she later backtracked and said last month she was undecided.
She outlined her decision-making out loud before the vote Tuesday.
“There’s no map regardless of what District 5 picks that satisfies every community in District 5,” she said. “So being in a hot seat, I’m going to depend on what I think is one of my strengths and that is to let the data tell the story.”
Looking back at the 37-year history, the District 5 Commissioner has been represented by someone from Maitland or Winter Park 76% of the time. The only exceptions were Commissioner Emily Bonilla and then herself, Martinez Semrad said.
So she argued Winter Park has received fair representation on the county board.
Martinez Semrad said keeping Winter Park in District 5 made sense because the population is geographically balanced to where most people live centrally and the Econlockhatchee River serves as a natural boundary. District 5 also maintains an education corridor since the University of Central Florida, Rollins College and Full Sail University were all grouped together.
She also took issue with Winter Park’s claims it has nothing in common with the rural east. She argued the homeownership rates, property values and people’s reliance on cars for transportation “are similarities there,” she said.
Her desire to keep Winter Park in District 5 was also framed around making sure districts balance out the unincorporated areas since they are more dependent on the county for fire, police and other infrastructure needs than the cities are.
Martinez Semrad added, “It makes me a little sad that tonight we talk about who we want to be with and who we don’t want to be with because, after all, we are all Orange County citizens.”
Robert Whatley, president of the Christmas Civic Association, wrote his group supported keeping the status quo since it “gave us the best chance of maintaining our rural lifestyle going into the future.”
But Winter Park resident Phil Erwin wrote District 5 just didn’t make sense and Winter Park needed new representation.
“As a Winter Park resident, I have absolutely no knowledge of most of the area that District 5 encompasses,” Erwin wrote. “I rarely travel east of 436 and only drive through the eastern part of the district on my way to the coast. It is beyond my wildest imagination why the community I live in is bundled with such a vast territory of complete unfamiliarity.”
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Thanks to all who lobbied the County Commission on either side. This Winter Park resident, is delighted to have Commissioner Semrad stay on as our representative.
Robert Whatley now is a good time to broaden your horizons about your district.
My horizons are plenty wide. You may want to check that nothing has changed for WP. You were in district 5 before this expansion. Your mayor stating that he did not want to be in the same district as Christmas was due to the fat that we vote, Pine Hills doesn’t.
The lines are mostly irrelevant, but our current county commismh clearly wants the WP cachet. She lives in a McMansion in the middle of a former cow pasture but is fervently opposed to other people getting the same opportunity. She’s a NIMBY.
Whoa. What is with you?
Post your last name and I’ll gladly provide her portfolio of performative, virtue-signaling politics.
Commissioner Martinez Semrad made a tough but, well thought out decision. I don’t believe we have anything in common with those other cities or share any interests for that matter. I was born in Winter Park, went to High School in Winter Park, went to college in the Winter Park area. Our Children all went to school in Winter Park and UCF. We enjoy the wonderful city civic life, recreational activities, and proximity to everything central FL has to offer. Plus clean, safe and well maintained community streets, parks, sports complexes, businesses and schools. District 5 is doing just fine with a wonderful diverse population of families and students, in both rural and urban settings.
Christmas came early this year for Mayor DeCiccio and Winter Park City Commissioners.
The Orange County Commission has ruled that Winter Park, FL and Christmas, FL will reside together in District 5.
So be jolly.
It’s Christmas after all.
Merry Christmas, Winter Park!
Map 7B looks like a saucepan.
Map 1A looks like a saucepan but with a much shorter handle.
Good thing they chose Map 7B.
This year long redistricting issue has everything to do with party control over available financial resources. If proper representation was based on county tax base contributions W.P. would clearly qualify for more county benefits based on the property taxes they pay!
County Democrats have done a yeomans job at maintaining and expanding political control of Orange County!!
What will be at issue in the not to distant future is the outcome of a current Supreme Court Court ruling on racial redistricting!