Candidates offer views on parking and development at Chamber forum
Two candidates failed to show (again) to face voters
Feb. 7, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Mayoral candidate Sheila DeCiccio and Commission Seat 2 candidates Jason Johnson and Craig Russell met Wednesday afternoon at the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce to answer questions that largely centered on future development. (You can watch a recording of the debate here.)
Michael Cameron, a candidate for mayor, and Stockton Reeves, a candidate for Seat 2, declined to attend. Both also failed to show up for public forums for their races at the Winter Park Library.
Reeves told the Voice this week he does plan to attend forums at the Mayflower and Westminster senior residential complexes, but those are not open to the public. Turnout among senior voters is reliably strong and considered crucial in Winter Park elections.
The Chamber forum offered an opportunity for Johnson and Russell, two first-time candidates for the seat vacated by DeCiccio because she is running for mayor, to draw some clear distinctions about what they would bring to the office.
Topics that highlighted those differences included the Orange Avenue Overlay, a special zoning district that was put into place by a previous commission and overturned in 2020 after DeCiccio was elected. The district allowed for taller and denser development along Orange Avenue roughly between Rollins College and U.S. 17-92.
The effort to overturn the OAO became the subject of a contentious lawsuit brought against the city by major property owners Mary Demetree and the Holler Family. The city prevailed in the lawsuit last year.
Forum moderator Fred Kittinger asked the candidates if they had any appetite to revisit the original provisions to help encourage investment along the corridor.
Russell, a teacher and coach at Winter Park High School, was the only candidate who said yes and the only candidate on Thursday whom the Chamber announced it would endorse this year through its political action committee known as Winter Park PAC.
He noted a lot of time and taxpayer money was spent on the original overlay and then a new commission said, “never mind.”
“I’m not OK with that,” Russell said, calling it “careless” to not at least take another look at a “great project.”
Johnson, though, emphatically stated he was not in favor of returning to the original OAO and wondered aloud if the large property owners along the strip were waiting for the makeup of the City Commission to change before moving ahead with redevelopment plans.
“I’m not sure I’m going to be their guy if that’s what they want,” he said.
DeCiccio, who was instrumental in overturning the OAO, said that without that decision Seven Oaks Park — the city’s newest open space under construction at Orange and Denning — would instead be a new tower and pointed out that badly needed road alignment and drainage projects could not have gone forward as they are today. She said she is open to tweaks in zoning along the corridor, but that the vast majority of residents did not want the kind of development the original OAO would have allowed.
Another question that showcased differences in the candidates related to parking. Candidates were asked how they might change the city’s rules about how many parking spaces developers must provide for different types of development — a code some chamber members consider antiquated and wasteful because they say too much land is set aside for parking that goes unused.
Again, only Russell appeared open to the types of changes the Chamber has advocated for, noting that he doesn’t mind “parking and then walking to where I need to go.” He didn’t offer specifics, but suggested the city look to other municipalities and experts for solutions.
Johnson said he would be OK with making some changes to the code, but he noted the challenges residents face finding parking along Park Avenue and other busy areas.
“I’m open to making those tweaks, but I’m not in favor of eviscerating the parking code as it stands,” he said.
DeCiccio added that the city is building parking along with Seven Oaks Park to help merchants on that end of Orange Avenue where parking is scarce.
The moderator also asked candidates what they would do to “generate charm” in the business areas such as Fairbanks Avenue and Lee Road.
DeCiccio pointed out that those roads are controlled by the state and said working with business owners is key to a solution.
Johnson suggested additional trees, wider sidewalks and offering incentives for businesses to redevelop their properties would be part of the answer.
For his part, Russell said, “I just have a problem with the word ‘charm.’ “I’m charming,” he joked. “This city is rich with history and tradition and we need to preserve that.”
Johnson used his closing statement to rebut that sentiment.
“Lots of people I’ve been talking to have asked me what’s the difference between you two?” he said referring to himself and Russell. “Craig, I appreciate anybody who puts his name on a ballot. I certainly appreciate Craig for showing up here tonight. But you heard one of the contrasts between us. Craig doesn’t like the word charm. I embrace it. It is my north star for running in this election. I’m not a politician, I’m just trying to do some public service for a city I love. The whole reason I’m running is to preserve the charm and village feel that we all love about Winter Park.”
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Parking, Orange Avenue Overlay, CRA
Johnson on charm
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
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By: Beth Kassab
No biography available at this time
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Three good candidates. I thought the chamber didn’t endorse candidates and you stated they endorsed Craig. Well that made up my mind. I will be voting for Sheila and Jason. They will continue to keep Winter Park the outstanding place we call home.
It’s about time the Chamber joined so many of their contemporaries and endorsed a candidate. Their membership is tired of charming Asian spas on Fairbanks and big box fast food/medical suites that are the only compliant businesses allowed by a code written in sand script. Russell is a real resident who will listen and he will make a great Commissioner. It’s a shame that DeCiccio doesn’t have a viable opponent. Us residents would have been better served with choices for Mayor.
Silly rabbit!
Chamber debate is for CHAMBER candidates!!!
Library debate is for LIBRARY candidates!!!
If you are not a part of the Chamber-Library cabal that has ruled Winter Park for the past generation, why would you attend one of their debates?
On the other hand if you want an honest citizen to be mayor vote for Michael Cameron.
Sheila DeCiccio may be “mis-remembering”. Seven Oaks Park (Progress Point) was always designated green space in the original OAO plan. It was envisioned a developer building a 3 story building on the RR tracks (a la Bank of Ozarks new construction project) would be required to build a park on Progress Point. Look at any rendering. It’s there!
The difference is taxpayers are now paying $5,000,000 (25% cost overrun) for a park vs requiring a developer to provide it for free. Seems backwards to me.
Not so, Pitt Warner. Progress Point would have been a massive 4 story structure wrapped around a massive parking garage. A last ditch effort to appease anti-OAO residents saw a strip of parkland proposed to run along Denning. This “park” was not the same as the larger park that will be realized there now.
I attended this event and it was excellent. Kudos to the candidates, the moderator, and the Chamber! I wish it could have been in a larger venue as I observed people being turned away (they had not registered and the event was at capacity), but the recording is available and that is a good thing. I hope those who were not able to attend will view it. It’s a shame some candidates chose not to participate.
A note for the chamber supporters: Do you want the perception that the chamber of commerce cares only about upscale businesses? Do you want the residents to see the chamber as an elitist group of wealthy members? Do you want the chamber to be seen as a dormant group supporting large scale development? I don’t think so and hopefully the comments above do not represent the chamber.
The Chamber CEO does not bother to hide her disdain for the current commission or the voters whose votes put them in office. Read Betsy Eckbert’s remarks inside within the first few pages of the latest issue of “Winter Park 32789 Neighbors ” magazine. She can’t help but throw up just a little bit in her throat when she thinks of older voters, the ones who make up the most powerful part of the electorate in WP. The Chamber wishes to help elect commissioners, like Craig Russell, who are open to much larger scale development like the original OAO. Russell’s lack of knowledge doesn’t matter to the Chamber.
After reading the 2nd Zoro posting I re-read all the other postings and came away wondering: What the heck is the masked Zoro’s point other than endorsing two candidates? Labeling chamber supporters as elitist doesn’t sound like a solution to me. But then again, the Voice does allow masked opinions.
Thanks for the info on Chamber PAC’s endorsement of Russell. Poor guy. That’s the “death knell” in WP elections. Voters would do well to “do the opposite” of whatever the Chamber’s trying to cram down our throats. I was hoping they’d stick to their knitting. Russell is green but he could maybe run again in the future if he can ever get clear of the Chamber taint and go grass roots instead. Read his donor list. He is the developers’ chosen one. Sad. Theyre like an anchor sinking his campaign.
Are the voters of Winter Park really supposed to believe that the Chamber’s endorsement of the coach wasn’t already predetermined?
Watch a replay of the debate, look at the donors on the coach’s finance reports, and then think about the fact that you got in today’s mail a pre-prepared, pre-printed, pre-addressed mailer endorsing the coach immediately after the Chamber’s debate.
The fix was definitely in from the beginning.
What is on the coach’s other mailer about opposing high-density development is the opposite of the positions he has taken at the two debates so far on development issues.
Does anyone in Winter Park really believe that the Chamber’s recruited candidate for this position wouldn’t vote in favor of every single development project? How dumb does the Chamber believe Winter Park residents to be?
As always, the key to candidate/elections motivation can be found in the financial reporting details. Updated frequently. Don’t vote until you examine the dollars laid down—and by whom. Names and past histories we can all recognize! Follow the Money—if you will.
It would be a tremendous service if the Voice would share that Election Candidate Reporting/Financials link currently provided—-but hard to find—on the City of Winter Park Election web page.
With appreciation—CJWilliams