by Beth Kassab | Sep 29, 2023 | City Commission, News, Uncategorized
Winter Park Police budget jumps nearly 8% with more officers, equipment
New tasers designed to give officers better odds at subduing combative people as the department also looks to more cameras and technology to improve efficiency
Sept. 29, 2023
By Beth Kassab
[Note: This story has been updated to include additional context about crime statistics.]
New tasers, a central dashboard of surveillance cameras and two new positions are driving increased costs at the Winter Park Police Department, which accounts for the largest piece — nearly a quarter — of the city’s $77 million general fund.
The department’s budget will grow nearly 8% to more than $18 million, up from $16.8 million this year.
Chief Tim Volkerson said the changes will allow the department to maintain its high standards and improve how officers respond to calls or conduct criminal investigations as call for service shot up 14% from 2021 to 2022 and nearly 20% since 2020, when calls lagged significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traffic crashes are still below pre-pandemic levels, but are trending up again. Calls related to Baker and Marchman acts, which are related to individuals who are struggling with mental illness or drug addition, are up nearly 7%.
A key enhancement will be the addition of a sworn officer position, bringing the department’s total to 83 sworn positions. A second civilian community service officer will be hired in 2024.
Volkerson said the department will maintain its quality benchmarks even as his agency and others across the country are struggling to find good candidates for the job.
That means WPPD will not, for example, drop its requirement for officers to complete a timed physical agility test as other departments have done.
“We haven’t changed our hiring standards,” he said.
Four positions are currently unfilled, though Volkerson said candidates are being processed and he expects to make new hires in the next month or so.
A second civilian community service officer, part of a program that started last year, is slated to begin in the Spring.
Volkerson said that program has been a “tremendous success” because the officer, who doesn’t carry a firearm, can respond to minor traffic incidents or nonviolent calls. That frees up sworn officers to handle other cases.
Officers are also carrying new tasers with upgraded features that make it easier to aim the electronic prongs at a subject because the taser projects two laser dots — one for each prong — onto the target instead of just one. A flick of the officer’s wrist can adjust the aim of the prongs based on how close the officer is to the subject.
The tasers also provide two chances for the officer to fire at the subject rather than a single shot followed by a cumbersome reloading process.
“If you miss with the first one, all you have to do is pull the trigger again,” Volkerson said, noting that the new technology also means an officer’s body camera automatically turns on when a taser is drawn.
That technology could mean life or death for some people who are being confronted by police. In 2022, a Winter Park officer shot and killed Daniel Knight, 39, after the officer attempted to fire his taser, but missed and the confrontation continued to escalate. Knight, who was intoxicated and refused officer’s commands to step away from his sister before striking an officer, died at his niece’s wedding reception at the Winter Park Events Center.
Volkerson would not comment on whether he thought the upgraded tasers could have made a difference in the case of Knight because the family told the city it plans to file a lawsuit and the internal affairs investigation is still incomplete.
In another move to improve safety and aid criminal investigations, the department is continuing to upgrade a network of camera feeds, both public and private, from across the city into a real-time crime center.
The project, which Volkerson said started during the pandemic, is undergoing a $600,000 upgrade to overlay map data along with computer-aided dispatch information across 16 monitors.
“It will expedite intelligence gathering and provide greater efficiency of response to critical incidents and criminal investigations as they unfold,” stated the budget proposal.
So far the system includes the city’s cameras that monitor public spaces as well as cameras from the Orange County Public School System, Rollins College and private businesses who opt into the program. Businesses and residents can register their cameras with the police department and select the level of access and monitoring they want — such as only during emergency calls or more frequently.
Volkerson said the video network has already aided responses. For example, officers were able to monitor a vehicle fire at a public housing complex and guide crews to the exact location. In another case, patrol officers spotted a stolen car and it happened to stop in front of a camera. The feed allowed the department to watch as officers conducted a felony stop and monitor the wider scene, which enabled the officers making the stop to focus on the driver.
Red light cameras will also continue to be part of the city’s traffic enforcement. Six cameras at intersections are in place today and the department plans to add two more in coordination with the Florida Department of Transportation. The new locations are not yet available.
This summer a new state law took effect that allows speed cameras in school zones that would trigger mailed tickets similar to the red light cameras. Winter Park plans to begin using those as well, though the exact locations and timing are not yet finalized, Volkerson said.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 22, 2023 | Uncategorized
Isle of Sicily homeowner fined $260k for tree removal and shoreline damage
City said violations are “egregious” and “irreparable.” Homeowner says he will appeal the Code Compliance Board’s decision
Sept. 22, 2023
By Beth Kassab
A photo dated from 2014 shows the lakefront lot at 6 Isle of Sicily lush with mature bald cypress trees, laurel oaks and other native plants.
But flip through a series of photos collected by the city of Winter Park from 2015 to 2023 and the same property appears increasingly barren of trees as an artificial white sand beach spreads over the shoreline, smothering native aquatic plants.
The changes at one of the 11 palatial homes nestled on the Lake Maitland peninsula at the north end of the Winter Park Chain of Lakes is the subject of a long and contentious code compliance case over two of Winter Park’s most cherished assets: its tree canopy and lakes.
A 2014 photo shows the property before trees and other vegetation were removed.
“It is difficult to imagine a more egregious set of willful, knowing and repeated violations that attack the essence of what our city code is intended to protect,” said Rick Geller, the attorney who represented the city the Sept. 7 Code Compliance Board where the case was presented.
The board approved fines totaling more than $260,000, including $150,600 related to the unpermitted removal of 13 bald cypress trees and one laurel oak. Another $110,500 in fines are related to importing sand without a permit that altered the shoreline and improper grading of the property in a special flood hazard area.
Some of the trees removed were replacement trees that the homeowners were ordered to plant in 2016 after they were found to have violated the tree ordinance the first time.
Homeowners Oliver and Rosemary Dawoud did not appear at the hearing or send a representative. Oliver Dawoud, chief executive officer of Aventus Health, which operates pharmacies, laboratories and other medical services, alerted the city attorney on the day of the hearing that he would be unable to attend.
Dawoud told the Voice that he plans to appeal the board’s decision. He has 30 days from Sept. 7, the day of the meeting, to file a court challenge.
He said two of the trees were removed because of lightening strikes and he understood he had permission to remove them. As for the sand, he said he thought he was placing the sediment above his property line — rather than in the lake — and didn’t understand the ramifications of the water level rising and wave action or storms sweeping the sand away from his property where it can harm native plants and contribute to water discoloration, erosion and algae blooms.
“I felt horrible when they told me that,” he said, recalling a conversation he had months ago with a state environmental officer and said he has since had some of the sand removed.
Geller said during the public hearing that Dawoud has not taken action to address the violations.
Winter Park Urban Forestry Superintendent Josh Nye testified at the hearing and estimated it would take 40 years to grow new bald cypress trees to the point of maturity of those lost on the property.
Gloria Eby, the city’s director of natural resources and sustainability, noted the importance of the trees, other vegetation and a healthy shoreline for the city’s larger ecosystem.
“The plants act as kidneys for your lake,” she said, explaining that they soak up nutrients from runoff and play an important role in keeping the water clean.
Dawoud and his wife purchased the property in 2015 for $4 million, according to property records. They tore down the existing house and began new construction. They moved into the new home this year.
“In 2014 the property was mostly lined with beautiful trees and vegetation,” Geller noted. “Today the property is stark and denuded. A mansion, however imposing or impressive you may find it, does not fix a barren or denuded landscape.”
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 22, 2023 | City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
McCraney Property wants to build headquarters on land city wanted for park
The property management company is under contract to buy land on Orange Avenue owned by Bank OZK
Sept. 22, 2023
By Beth Kassab
After city officials learned earlier this month that Bank OZK accepted another offer on two acres the city tried to buy to expand Seven Oaks Park, speculation swirled over the identity of the buyer.
This week representatives of McCraney Property Company reached out to city staff and said they plan to purchase the land and are proposing to build an office to serve as the company’s headquarters, a city spokeswoman confirmed.
The city has not yet received any documents related to the plans. A call to the offices of Steven McCraney, the company’s president and chief executive officer who also lives in Winter Park, was not returned.
McCraney Property has offices in Orlando, West Palm Beach and Charlotte, N.C., according to its website.
“Since its founding in 1989, the company has grown to be one of the most active developers of high-finish industrial real estate – e-commerce fulfillment and distribution facilities – and private acquisition in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina’s major markets,” the site states.
It’s unclear when the sale of the land will close or how soon the company is looking to start construction.
The city offered Bank OZK (formerly Bank of the Ozarks) about $6 million for the property on top of waiving impact fees on a site at mixed-use development Ravaudage, where the bank apparently now intends to build a branch.
The Winter Park Land Trust offered $500,000 in private funding to help the city purchase the land and convert it to park space. The above renderings show the site as it exists today compared to how it could have looked as greenspace.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 15, 2023 | City Commission, News
Winter Park total budget grows by $9.5 million
Fee increases, flood control and new library hours are just some of the changes for next year
Sept. 15, 2023
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park City Commissioners gave the first of two required approvals to next year’s budget, which will grow by $9.5 million or nearly 5% over this year to $208 million.
The property tax rate remained the same and the general fund increased by about 10% led by higher tax revenue driven by the growth in property values.
However, a number of fees charged by the city will increase.
City leaders pointed over the summer to inflation and the higher cost of wages as justification for raising fees.
Those include:
- The cost of the city’s garbage collection contract with WastePro is set to go up by 45%, sending fees up by about 20%. The budget estimates homeowners will pay about $5 extra on average each month to account for the higher prices.
- Fees associated with the city’s parks, facilities and programs will go up by 5% to raise an additional $350,000 to cover higher expenses of maintaining the buildings and greenspaces.
- Ambulance transport fees will go up by 10% to raise an additional $100,000 to $150,000. The fee hasn’t been raised in more than five years and is sometimes covered by health insurance or Medicare rather than residents, the proposal noted.
- Water and sewer rates will go up by 7% in line with the index put out by the Public Service Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities across Florida.
- Stormwater rates, which help cover the cost of drainage and infrastructure to prevent and reduce flooding, will go up 8% next year following two previous years of increases of 5% each. Owners of the largest homes will pay more while owners of smaller properties could pay less, according to the new rate structure.
Other notable budget changes include:
- An additional $350,000 for the Winter Park Library, which will allow expanded hours and programming, including on Sundays. The money will come from the Community Redevelopment Agency’s budget and is planned to continue on an annual basis.
- At least $1.5 million is set aside, also from the CRA budget, for stormwater improvements such as flood prevention on the city’s west side, which makes up the CRA.
- $200,000 will go toward projects that are part of the Transportation Master Plan.
- $150,000 in the general fund is set aside as a potential matching grant for the Mead Garden Trails project.
- About $150,000 will be devoted from the general fund to create a new construction manager position within Public Works.
- About $113,000 will be devoted to a new community services officer civilian role for Winter Park Police.
- About $1 million over two years to make improvements to Aloma Avenue and S.R. 426 as part of the Fix 426 initiative. Staff noted that more funds may be needed, but that the nearly $700,000 in contingency funds as well as $19 million in the city’s reserve funds could serve as bridge funding.
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by Beth Kassab | Sep 15, 2023 | City Commission, News
Higher stormwater fees irk residents
Some homeowners objected to how the fees are calculated, prompting the city to set up an appeals process to request changes
Sept. 15, 2023
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park City Commissioners unanimously approved higher stormwater fees for many residents and a new way of collecting the fees for all residents, a change expected to generate an additional $600,000 a year in revenue for projects to help treat runoff from storms and prevent flooding.
The decision came after a handful of residents spoke out against the changes in response to letters that went out late last month that explained the new cost per property and noted that residents will now be charged for stormwater management on their annual property tax bill rather than monthly water utility bills.
“I don’t think this is even remotely fair,” said one resident who described himself as a commercial property owner and said the cost is a “rainwater tax” that will amount to a “stress test” passed on to his tenants.
The fees are calculated by the amount of impervious surface on each lot — or the amount of concrete, asphalt and other materials that impede rain from soaking back into the ground.
A resident who lives in a 6,300-square-foot house said the letter she received noted her annual fee will rise by $766 or about $63 a month. She questioned why the city counts her gravel driveway as impervious and why the ratio of grass and vegetation on her lot wasn’t factored in.
A representative of The Gallery condominium complex wanted to know why unit owners are being charged different amounts simply because they live on different parcels within the same development.
“Your process is flawed,” she said.
Wes Hamil, director of the city Finance Department, said residents who feel their fees were miscalculated can file an appeal here on the city’s Web site.
The Voice first reported the changes to the fees in June. Not everyone is seeing an increase:
The more than 540 owners of homes larger than 8,900 square feet will see the largest jump in price — an estimated $24.61 per month or nearly $300 a year more than under the old fee structure, according to a city analysis. Houses less than 2,899-square-feet are likely to see a decrease in stormwater fees, with the smallest homes seeing the largest savings. The price drop is estimated to range from about $9 a year to about $60 a year.
Mayor Phil Anderson said the city fell behind in keeping up with inflation and other rising costs over the past decade to treat and control storm run-off. While the year-over-year increase appears high, he said, it works out to a 2.6% annual compounded growth rate since 2013.
“The city got behind in recovering expenses for our stormwater maintenance program,” Anderson said, noting that even with the increases the city will still need to take dollars from other sources for major flood prevention projects.
Studies are underway now to determine how to prevent future flooding like what Winter Park experienced last year after Hurricane Ian. The increase in fees are not expected to cover the cost of those fixes.
“The stormwater utility in my opinion has always been underfunded,” said Commissioner Todd Weaver. “Ian gave us some valuable lessons and we really need to address those … this increase is very necessary.”
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