Extreme weather is wreaking havoc on Winter Park Chain of Lakes

by Beth Kassab | Apr 7, 2023 | News

Extreme weather is wreaking havoc on Winter Park Chain of Lakes

From the deluge of rain brought by Hurricane Ian to more recent drought-induced algae blooms, the city’s prized lakes are feeling the effects of a warming climate

By Beth Kassab

The Winter Park Chain of Lakes flows north through the city, connecting mile after mile of multi-million- dollar home lots, the Spanish Mediterranean architecture of Rollins College and some of the most popular public docks in the region.

Lakes Virginia, Mizell, Osceola and Maitland – linked by a series of picturesque canals — are at the heart of what makes Winter Park home to some of the most desirable real estate in Florida.

But extreme weather in the last six months brought first by Hurricane Ian and, now, a sustained drought have pointed to the chain of lakes as a symbol of something potentially ominous: severe inland flooding followed by persistent hazardous algae blooms.

“It’s a perfect storm for Florida,” said Gloria Eby, Winter Park’s director of Natural Resources and Sustainability. “If you look at the state’s map for algae bloom sites, you can see dots all over the state of Florida. We’re not in this alone. But it is newer for Winter Park. Our weather pattern has a severe impact on when and where we see this and we’re seeing the intensities from extreme drought to extreme rain.”

Dinky Dock on Lake Virginia, a popular boat ramp open to the public, was closed for four weeks in February and March because of algae blooms that can be toxic to people and dogs. Lakes Virginia, Osceola, Maitland, Sue and Baldwin are now open, but remain under a caution because blooms can move and reappear.

The lack of rain along with hotter than typical temperatures can feed conditions that worsen the blue-green blooms.  Samples are regularly collected by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection from problem areas.

A family spends time at Dinky Dock last month after it reopened from algae blooms.

Eby said the absence of rain has depleted lake levels and water is barely trickling over the weirs that help control the elevation in the chain of lakes. Without a steady flow of rain, runoff contaminated with nutrients from fertilizer and other sources remain in the lakes and ripen the conditions for algae.

“We need that base rain flow to push out the nutrients,” she said.

Orlando only saw 1.89 inches of rain since the start of the year, more than 5 inches less than normal, according to the National Weather Service. Sanford saw 3 inches, more than 4 inches below normal.

That’s the opposite of the problem the region saw after Hurricane Ian dropped 13.7 inches of rain on Orange County during a 12-14-hour period on Sept. 29 with some areas logging as much as 18 inches of rain, according to Winter Park’s post-storm report. That analysis noted the storm caused sewer overflows that “exposed the vulnerability of the city’s stormwater and waste water systems that are not built or designed to handle this amount of continued rainfall.”

The lake levels rose and nearby docks, homes and streets were flooded.

Pamela Peters has lived in her house on Lake Osceola for 42 years and had never experienced such high water levels as she did immediately after Ian.

A boat house is flooded on Lake Osceola after Hurricane Ian. (Photo courtesy of Pamela Peters.)

Her dock was under water for weeks and her boat house flooded.

“We had never seen this,” said Peters, a former city commissioner. “My concern is that our city leaders are thoughtful about the events and changes in climate and are anticipating and planning what’s next.”

Some potential changes are already in motion.

Eby said city staff has met with the St. Johns River Water Management District, a state agency charged with regulating water bodies and protecting drinking water, to determine if the two fixed weirs that control the water levels on the chain of lakes could be made adjustable in the future.

That could be controversial because if there is too much outflow from the lakes in Winter Park then areas downstream in Seminole County such as Lake Howell could flood. But some ability to adjust the water levels might also be helpful in controlling flooding during storms, Eby said.

“There’s more intensity and more frequency to these storms so it’s really testing the abilities of this entire infrastructure,” said Gloria Eby, Winter Park’s director of Natural Resources and Sustainability. “Inland areas are starting to see a lot more effects with flooding and higher water elevation.”

City staff are also working on a study to determine the sources of nutrients contributing to algae blooms and how to combat them, she said.

And Eby’s department wants to educate residents who live on the lakes about how to take care of them such as the safest fertilizers to use and simple steps such as making sure grass clippings and leaves are not blown into the water.

Earlier this year the city held a meeting with lakefront homeowners in an effort to provide more communication about what’s happening and how they can help.

That means bagging yard waste instead of blowing it, following fertilizer guidelines and protecting native aquatic plants near the shoreline, which function as kidneys to the lakes by filtering out toxins.

“We need our lake communities to be strong stewards of the lakes,” she said.

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This classical music competition changes lives. Can it also put Central Florida on the map for new music?

by Beth Kassab | Mar 28, 2023 | News

This classical music competition changes lives. Can it also put Central Florida on the map for new music?

The National Young Composers Challenge returns this weekend

By Beth Kassab

Robert Tindle was just 14 when he first entered the National Young Composers Challenge, now a part of UCF’s annual arts celebration every April.

The score he submitted back in 2011 as a high school student in Miami was long shot.

“I wrote something for orchestra, which was quite a stretch because I had never written for strings before,” he said.

But the result was life-changing.

Tindle was selected as a winner, which meant his piece was played in front of a live audience by the Orlando Philharmonic and workshopped in real time with conductor Christopher Wilkins, now music director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra and the Akron Symphony.

“It was my first chance to really see somebody interacting with my music on that level of professionalism so it made a huge impact on me,” Tindle said. “I then realized this is something I really, really like doing.”

Today, more than a decade later, Tindle is 26 and working as a professional classical composer. He is finishing up a violin concerto to be premiered by an orchestra in Iowa next year and he wrote other recent commissions for orchestra and wind ensemble. He earned a master’s degree in 2020 in instrumental conducting from Wichita State University in Kansas.

“I’m still working with orchestras and large ensembles to this day and a lot of that can be traced in some way back to the connections I made at the National Young Composers Challenge,” he said.

This Sunday there will be two more 14-year-olds (along with two 17-year-olds and two 18-year-olds) on stage when the challenge returns to Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and helps kick off UCF Celebrates the Arts 2023.

This time the youngest composers are from Maine and Minnesota with other winners from New York, Michigan and Florida.

But the founders and judges of the event hope the result will be the same:  More young people like Tindle encouraged to keep pursuing their passion.

“To have your music performed by 60 or 70 people in an orchestra and an audience hear what you have to say? That makes a very powerful impression,” said Alex Burtzos, assistant professor of music, endowed chair of composition at UCF and a judge for the competition.

Burtzos understands that feeling on a personal level. He won a composing competition as a 15-year-old high school student in Colorado.

“They are experiencing what it’s like to be in that sphere and that can be kind of intoxicating, you know?” he said.

This year the challenge, which started in 2007, received more than 100 entries from as far away as Alaska and Hawaii. In addition to UCF, the event is also sponsored by Rollins College, Full Sail University and Timucua Arts Foundation.

Winter Park resident Steve Goldman, a composer and philanthropist who founded the competition, said he is impressed each year with the increasing level of complexity and sophistication in the entries.

“The goal is to make Central Florida a national center known for new music,” said Goldman, who is also a financial supporter of the Winter Park Voice.

While industry observers have noted how classical music audiences are disappearing across the country, there are more career paths for composers today in the age of endless streams of on-demand media.

“One of the jokes in the orchestra business is people think they are coming to listen to music by dead white European males, but it’s really a living and breathing art form and there is so much good stuff out there now,” Goldman said.

Burtzos agreed, noting the 12 spots in UCF’s composition program are highly competitive, with 35 applicants this year for just five open seats. A previous winner of the challenge is now enrolled in the program.

More television, films and video games mean a greater demand for new music, which is integral to storytelling.

“As a result of more outlets than we have ever seen before, it’s more realistic to consider a career as a composer,” Burtzos said.

The event on Sunday is free to the public and will feature live performances of the pieces by the six winners.

In addition to Goldman and Burtzos, judges include Dan Crozier, an accomplished composer and professor at Rollins and Keith Lay, who has taught at Full Sail, written music for commercials and film and whose orchestral works have been played all over the world.

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