Blue Bamboo earns final approval to lease old Winter Park Library building
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio cast the only vote against the lease
July 12, 2024
By Zoey Thomas
The Winter Park City Commission voted 4-1 on Wednesday to allow Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts to move into the former Winter Park Public Library.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio cast the sole vote against the new lease with the jazz club, although she said she wished its owners the “very best” and offered to help if the situation doesn’t work out.
DeCiccio questioned Blue Bamboo’s financial viability as a tenant during the first hearing about the lease in June. She ultimately voted for it during the previous meeting after it became clear there was not enough support on the Commission for a competing bid from Rollins College to convert the old library into an art museum.
At least one hurdle remains before Blue Bamboo can move forward with retrofitting the library building. Commissioners must approve a zoning change for the land, a potentially controversial move because the property is zoned for residential uses and needs a new designation that allows for commercial use.
Commissioners appeared poised to accept a recommendation from Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis, who said the land could be changed to a zoning called PQP or public and quasi-public.
To do so, commissioners will also need to change existing PQP rules to allow city-owned PQP properties to operate as commercial venues.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan said he wanted to avoid setting a “bad precedent” of rezoning residential buildings. But he also pointed out the property operated as a library for decades and wasn’t used for housing before that, either.
“It’s never been residential,” he said. “In this case, I don’t believe that precedent is really something that is of concern.”
Vice Mayor Todd Weaver agreed, pointing out the Alfond Inn, a hotel and event space, is next door to the building.
But former Winter Park Mayor Phil Anderson, who left office in April, stood up during public comment to oppose the change.
Rezoning the building will allow alcohol sales on the premises and let Blue Bamboo rent office space to organizations that may or may not be nonprofits, he said.
“No matter how you cut it, this is a dramatic change in use,” he said.
The zoning change is set to go before the Planning & Zoning Board in the coming weeks and then will go back before the City Commission for final approval.
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How transparent the former and current mayors are in their attempts to funnel the residents’ building directly to Rollins in a sweetheart deal. Alcohol sales?! Office use !? OMG. A former RFP from the city was going to allow the entire library building to be converted to class A office space with a small “health food cafe”. Alcohol sales, weddings, live music and large scale celebrations of all kinds take place a hundred feet away at the Alfond, in multiple venues on a much larger scale. Parking was the only reason we didn’t see a full scale restaurant go in the library building as part of a mixed use RFP. Not rezoning issues. Anderson and DeCiccio must stop pretending that the Alfond is not a huge commercial venue in a residential neighborhood or that the neighbors have some issue with a very large hotel and party venue in their midst. They don’t. It will be a smaller, quieter use than the Alfond.
“and offered to help if the situation doesn’t work out”
Quite the statement
Sounds great to add some MUSIC to downtown and something new!! I wish them success.