Winter Park commissioners did not indicate on Wednesday whether or not they would join the legal challenge against the measure that would cut in to both the revenue and autonomy of local governments in Florida
June 11, 2026
By Beth Kassab
City Attorney Kurt Ardaman on Wednesday told the Winter Park City Commission about a legal challenge against the ballot amendment pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature to radically reduce property tax revenue for local governments.
Ardaman said the commissioners could join — as a group or as individuals — the lawsuit filed Thursday morning by Jamie Cole, one of Florida’s most well-known local government attorneys for his work on previous ballot amendments and cases protecting home rule with the law firm Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Cole & Bierman.
“Most local governments in the state of Florida do not want to be a plaintiff and we don’t need to go into those reasons here,” Ardaman said. “But they are looking for individuals as well.”
None of the commissioners on the dais — Commissioner Kris Cruzada was absent — offered any comment or indicated their thinking. Winter Park is projected to lose at least $5.6 million in homestead tax starting in 2028 if the required 60% of voters approve the amendment.
The lawsuit filed in the Second Judicial Court in Leon County on Thursday names as defendants Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Attorney General James Uthmeier. A spokeswoman for Byrd said his office does not comment on pending litigation. The Voice also reached out to Uthmeier for comment, but has not yet received a response.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit so far are Save Our Voters from Misleading Ballot Language Inc., a new nonprofit that just filed with the state of Florida this month and lists the chief operating officer of Cole’s law firm as its incorporator, as well as Thomas Campenni, a voter in Martin County who previously served as the mayor of Stuart and Michael Davey, a voter in Miami-Dade County who previously served as mayor of the Village of Key Biscayne.
The legal challenge doesn’t argue against the general concept of reducing homesteaded property taxes, but asserts the amendment slated to go before voters is inaccurate and misleading.
“Plaintiffs recognize the great importance of property tax reform, and understand the Legislature’s zeal to enact changes as quickly as possible,” it reads. “However, on an issue as important as this, voters are entitled to a fair, clear, accurate and nonmisleading ballot statement to assist them in making this critical decision.”
Cole currently represents the city of Weston and said on a recent law firm podcast that there are multiple legal problems with the amendment that aims to increase the homestead property tax exemption to $250,000 in 2028 as well as limit the growth in the values of non-homestead properties.
He led the challenge against a property tax reform amendment in 2007 that resulted in it being taken off the ballot.
Cole said the title of the 2026 amendment is just one issue that violates the legal standard for the ballot language to be neutral.
He equated the wording to a “clear political slogan.”
“When you read it, it reads like a political flyer you would get in the mail,” he said.
He said the summary also fails to be neutral enough and doesn’t accurately explain what the amendment would do. It leaves out, for instance, that the exemption would first only be increased to $150,000 in 2027 before $250,000 in 2028.
The language goes on to say that voting yes means “ensuring funding for core services” such as public safety, education, infrastructure and natural resources.
“The problem is that it does not ensure funding for those core services,” Cole said. “It does the opposite.”
The amendment takes away from property taxes, the most crucial source of local revenue for local governments, and doesn’t offer any replacement.
He predicted that many local governments would raise their property tax rates and also raise other fees to make up for the loss.
Such moves, he said, would also contradict wording that claims to protect small businesses.
While the measure would limit the growth in annual assessments on non-homesteaded property to 5% instead of the 10% cap in place today, that would apply to far more than small businesses.
“What this really does to small business is if they own a piece of property their tax rate will most certainly go up … that’s hurting small businesses,” he said.
What Does Winter Park Stand to Lose if Property Tax Cuts Pass?
Voters are expected to decide a ballot amendment in November initiated by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature that could dramatically alter how local governments operate
June 5, 2026
By Beth Kassab
What does Winter Park stand to lose if voters approve the plan by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Legislature to dramatically reduce property taxes?
A picture of the potential fallout is becoming more clear just days after the Florida House and Senate voted to send the measure to the November ballot. Here’s what we know so far:
How much money will Winter Park lose?
Let’s break down the numbers.
In 2025, Winter Park collected about $48.5 million in taxes, according to Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph. The bulk of that, or about $41.1 million, is what is targeted by the state ballot amendment. Those are the dollars collected on real property — houses and businesses — based on that property’s assessed value.
Tax money that comes in from real property is divided into two categories: Homestead (the houses people live in and claim as their primary residence) and non-homestead (commercial properties, businesses, second homes or rental properties or other land).
The change ordered by the Legislature garnering the most attention is a reduction in what cities and counties will collect on homesteaded property. (Note: The Legislature revised DeSantis’ proposal, which would have also reduced taxes that support schools. So the new rules would not apply to school taxes.)
Winter Park City Hall
Winter Park collected $19.8 million in 2025 from homesteaded properties. If voters approve the proposed increase to the homestead exemption from $50,000 today to $250,000 in 2028 then those collections would drop to about $14.2 million, according to Randolph’s projections. The reduction would first be felt, to a lesser extent, by cities and counties in 2027 when the homestead exemption would jump to to $150,000 before increasing to the full $250,000 the following year.
So that’s a loss of $5.6 million based on today’s numbers or a 28% reduction in collections on homesteaded properties. The overall hit to the city’s tax roll appears closer to 12% because stormwater fees ($6.3 million), tangible property taxes ($1 million on equipment and furnishings in businesses or rental properties) and non-homesteaded property taxes ($21.2 million) aren’t affected by the change to homestead exemptions.
This year the city spent $5 million more just to cover basic cost-of-living and 3% merit raises for city staff, including more competitive wages for police and additional emergency call center staff as the city took on dispatch duties for Maitland.
The entire capital improvement budget for the Community Development Agency, which is funded entirely through property taxes, totaled $5.7 million. That included $3.2 million to fix drainage and infrastructure problems on West Fairbanks Avenue, Canton Avenue and the MLK Park basin. Another $2.5 million went to the Park Avenue Refresh project, which includes new street lighting, sidewalks, landscaping, underground infrastructure and other work.
The rebuilding of Fire Station 62 on Lakemont Avenue is estimated at $5.8 million, a project the city put off again this year because it didn’t have the funds.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio predicted noticeable cuts will be made if the new proposal goes into effect.
“This will be devastating,” DeCiccio said after the Legislature’s vote. “We will be assessing what services the city may have to cut.”
The entire city budget is $233 million this year. That includes the two utilities that fund themselves with a combined nearly $100 million in what customers pay for water and electric service.
Beyond that, the single biggest source of revenue for the city is property taxes.
Those taxes are the biggest contributor to the city’s almost $90 million general fund, which is responsible for all of the front-line services like police and fire rescue (the two biggest expenses), parks and recreation and public works.
“Property taxes are continuing to row the boat for the city’s fiscal picture, rising 7.6% and accounting for 44% of General Fund revenue,” reads the budget document from last year. “This stabilizing force is what keeps most city services humming. Its rate of growth is sufficient to support the existing level of city services, but it is limited in what it can provide in excess of just staying on course.”
So is that all?
No. There’s more. The ballot amendment would also hamstring cities and counties by limiting future growth in the amount of taxes collected on non-homesteaded properties.
The cap on annual assessment increases for those properties — anything from a Publix grocery store to an Amazon warehouse to a vacation home — would drop from 10% to 5%.
That represents future savings for billion-dollar corporations and less future revenue for local governments to use for police, fire rescue, roads and everything else property taxes pay for.
Growth in property values is how a city like Winter Park, which has enjoyed a brisk real estate market for years, has managed to increase its budget without raising the tax rate for 18 years.
A little more than half of the city’s total ad valorem collections or about $21.2 million come from non-homesteaded properties owned by everyone from small business owners to deep-pocketed corporations who will save money as a result of the new cap.
The exact amount of future unrealized growth is hard to quantify, city officials say.
But this chart from the budget shows the importance of the increase in assessed values year to year:
But even before the new ballot amendment was in play, city officials were beginning to warn of a softening in that growth and the need for belt-tightening.
“The General Fund is seeing continued increases in property tax revenue due to increasing valuations in existing real estate which has traditionally been the primary support of the majority of the growth in revenues over time,” the budget reads. “However, this revenue source is continuing its slowing trend and could indicate tighter years ahead.”
If approved, the new cap will exacerbate that picture.
What else does the ballot amendment do?
In addition to reducing revenue cities and counties have to work with, the measure would also restrict how that money is spent.
Property taxes would only be able to pay for items that fall in one of the following buckets, according to a Senate press release:
Public safety, including law enforcement, fire service, and emergency medical service
Education and public schools (additional funds beyond operational expenses covered by school board taxes)
Road and bridge construction and maintenance, stormwater control, and other infrastructure projects
Natural resource projects, including flood control measures
Retirement benefits of local government employees
Bond obligations
Operations and administration of county officers and commissioners and municipalities, and approved expenditures
Assistant City Manager Michelle del Valle, who will be in the top role next year when the changes begin to take effect after City Manager Randy Knight retires, said city staff is already starting to assess what may or may not fit into those categories. Some items in question, she said, are considered core services that residents have come to expect.
“The biggest one that we’re going to have to start working on is Parks and Recreation,” she said. “But also the library … all of our cultural partnerships.”
The Winter Park Library & Events Center.
This year the Parks budget is nearly $15 million. The city spent about $2.4 million on its library this year. And more than $500,000 went to cultural and nonprofit organizations through the general fund and the CRA such as Mead Botanical Gardens, Winter Park Historical Association, Winter Park Day Nursery, United Arts, Blue Bamboo, Polasek Museum, Enzian Theater, Heritage Center, Welbourne Day Nursery and Winter Park Playhouse.
DeCiccio said the attempt to cut local budgets is an extension of a longstanding effort by Tallahassee to chip away at the power of local governments.
“Where are people supposed to go?” DeCiccio asked. “Are they supposed to go to the state to complain about potholes in the roads? It’s very, very frustrating.”
The proposed ballot amendment, she said, strips voters of a layer of autonomy and accountability to closest to where they live.
It’s more often the city and county commissioners vs. state officials who run into residents at the grocery store or in the school pick-up line and hear their frustrations about uneven sidewalks or broken streetlights, a desire for more shade trees or a plea to help the arts.
“What about libraries? What about playgrounds? They are taking away our ability to fund these items,” DeCiccio said. “We have the No. 1 children’s library in the state that’s now open seven days a week. How are we going to keep paying for that?”
What can cities do in response?
Even before the proposal to cut property taxes, cities like Winter Park began raising prices on everything from after-school programs run by the parks department to stormwater fees and electric rates to compensate for rising costs in recent years.
For example, at the most recent City Commission meeting, commissioners approved a contract extension for Waste Pro, which provides garbage collection. The city doesn’t make money off the contract — it’s a pass through — but residents’ monthly rates have shot up from $14.99 in 2022 to $22.22 in 2025.
And residents could pay more in other ways.
Cities and counties could choose to increase the millage rate on properties — something Winter Park has avoided for 18 years — to blunt the effect of the proposed changes.
“If county and municipal governments raise millage rates to recoup the lost revenue, that would result in higher property taxes on the portion of the value of homestead properties that remains taxable, as well as on the many properties that do not qualify for the substantially higher exemption, including the properties of new Florida residents and second homeowners, commercial properties (including apartment complexes), and industrial and agricultural properties,” reads an analysis from the conservative-leaning Tax Foundation. “This would make Florida’s property tax system far less neutral and disincentivize the purchase of certain classes of property.”
Or, the foundation argues, policymakers could choose to increase the sales tax to help make up for lost property taxes.
“Since Florida’s tax structure includes no individual income tax, sales taxes and property taxes are the primary sources of state and local tax revenue,” the group said. “Replacing the lost property tax revenue with sales tax revenue would require substantially higher local and/or state sales tax rates, a sweeping expansion of the sales tax base (likely to more than just final personal consumption), or a combination of these approaches.”
Winter Park doesn’t set the sales tax or the local gas tax. That’s done by a combination of state and county officials. But it does share in sales and gas tax revenue, though that revenue is far less than property tax revenue for the city.
Winter Park’s 2026 budget included $5.6 million from sales tax and just under $1 million from the local option gas tax, a fraction of the more than $41 million it received in property taxes.
What happens next?
As with any ballot amendment, there is likely to be litigation and fights over the ballot language.
But once it makes the November ballot, at least 60% of voters must approve it in order for it to pass. That’s a heavy lift in Florida.
In 2024, there were six constitutional amendments on the Florida ballot and all but two failed to capture the required 60% approval. That was the year an amendment to legalize recreational marijuana and to limit government interference with abortion received 56% and 57% of the vote, respectively, but fell short of the 60% threshold.
But an amendment related to property tax exemptions passed with 66% of the vote. It provided for an annual inflation adjustment for the value of the homestead property tax exemption that applies to non-school taxes.
Two years earlier, though, a 2022 amendment to increase the homestead exemption for public service workers including teachers, law enforcement officers and others failed with 59% of the vote.
What about Winter Park’s next budget?
City officials say they still plan to present a proposed budget to the City Commission in July on the typical schedule.
The next budget is based on the 2026 tax roll and would not be impacted by the proposed changes, which aren’t set to take effect until next year if they win voter approval.
But officials say they are cognizant of what potentially lies ahead and are taking that into account.
The City Commission usually begins to hear public input on the budget in August and must adopt it by the end of September before the start of the next fiscal year in October.
Downtown Security Barriers and Mead Gardens Pond Cleanup Land in State Budget
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said expects to veto a number of projects but local lawmakers argue the money for two Winter Park line items should be spared
May 30, 2026
By Gabrielle Russon
The city of Winter Park is slated to get state money to help clean up Central Florida’s waterways and beef up security for public outdoor events as the Legislature approved the 2026-27 budget Friday.
State lawmakers passed a $114.5 billion spending plan that provides $500,000 for a Mead Gardens water project and $62,500 for Winter Park Police road barriers to keep vehicles from driving into crowds at festivals and other events.
Lawmakers inserted the pair of Winter Park projects into the state budget after they met behind closed doors this month to negotiate spending on everything from school funding, law enforcement and members’ pet projects during a special session this month.
The Legislature had failed to approve a budget — their only constitutional required job — during the 60-day regular session that ended in March.
Even though the Legislature approved the budget Friday, the money is not official for Winter Park until it survives Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto pen.
DeSantis has been clear he wants to trim spending.
“It’s probably a safe assumption that when I’m done with my veto pen that it’ll be less than the current year budget,” DeSantis said this week about the next fiscal year starting July 1.
DeSantis also is open about how he weaponizes his veto power to punish lawmakers who don’t support his agenda.
“If the members are supporting good policy, then, you know, I see their budget items, that’s just something you take into account,” DeSantis said earlier this month at The Federalist Society.
Winter Park officials declined to comment for this story as they await DeSantis’ spending decisions, but the state lawmakers who advocated for the Winter Park project spoke to The Voice about why they feel the money is important.
Mead Gardens Pond Flows to Chain of Lakes
State lawmakers want to tackle cleaning up waterways by lowering nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that cause algae booms and destroy biodiversity.
In the state budget, Winter Park would receive $500,000 to filter the excessive nutrients from Alice’s Pond in Mead Gardens as the Loch Haven Chain of Lakes flows into the Winter Park Chain of Lakes.
The funding request is a bipartisan effort from an influential Republican, state Sen. Jason Brodeur, and Democrat state Rep. Anna Eskamani. The two have a history of collaborating on water projects even though they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
“The Winter Park Chain of Lakes, its health impacts the health of all lakes in Central Florida,” Eskamani said.
Their project seeks to improve water quality throughout the interconnected lake systems of Winter Park and Maitland which are the headwaters to Lake Jesup and the St. Johns River, Florida’s longest river.
“People live on these water bodies and they’ve been there long enough to remember when it was actually a place you might actually want to swim or boat,” said Brodeur who grew up on Lake Jesup. “It gets gross because it gets overgrown with weeds and things that don’t belong there because the balance is out of whack with its nutrient load.”
Central Florida’s waterways play a big role in Florida’s ecosystem since three of the water management districts come together, Brodeur said.
“If a drop of rain falls somewhere in Central Florida, it could end up in Fort Myers, it could end up in the Everglades, it could end up in Jacksonville,” Brodeur said.
Keeping the waters clean is important to support local businesses and tourism because of a long list of water recreational activities, such as paddle boarding, rowing and boating, Eskamani added.
Street Barriers Would Help Protect Outdoor Crowds
Last year the city of Winter Park received $62,500 for the road barriers and now an additional $62,500 is included in the 2026-27 budget.
In the state House, Rep. David Smith sought the money both times even though Winter Park isn’t even in his district — Smith lives in Seminole County.
“One of the reasons that I supported the appropriation request not only last year but this year is, the city of Winter Park hosts a lot of street festivals,” Smith said. “So if we’re going to spend state money to protect pedestrians against a potential attack, that’s a legitimate use of state tax dollars.”
Each spring tens of thousands of people attend the three-day Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Other popular events include charity runs down Park Avenue, beloved parades and more.
“Who doesn’t love the Winter Park Arts Festival?” said Brodeur, who handled the local funding request in the upper chamber. “We got people from all five surrounding counties driving in. We want to make sure they’re safe for events like that.”
Brodeur called the police barriers an important investment in the context of the region’s tourism industry.
“Very frequently people have the mindset, or at least local municipalities have the mindset that ‘We want this really cool toy, we’ll just ask the state for it,’” Brodeur said. “The state funding should be state taxpayers paying for something of regional interest. Now because Winter Park has so many events that draw so many from all over Central Florida and the whole state, this is a safety issue of regional interest.”
As he talked about the water clean up and police barriers, Brodeur also revived an argument that’s been debated in Central Florida for years. Should taxpayer money fund these projects? Or should tourists foot those bills with revenue from Orange County’s hotel tax?
“Should we expand what we can spend tourist development tax on? If the tourists that we’re bringing in and doing all these things for are the ones that are lining the coffers, shouldn’t we be doing more things for our residents besides expanding the convention center?” Brodeur said.
Historic Preservation Disagreements Pile Up: Spend Money on a Consultant? Offer Tax Incentives?
The City Commission this week touched off what is likely to be a contentious debate over how — or even if — property owners should be encouraged to place historical assets on a local register to help protect them from demolition
May 29, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Preservationists pleaded with City Commissioners this week over what is likely to be only the first disagreement as Winter Park endeavors to save more houses from the bulldozer: Whether the Historic Preservation Board should be able to spend money on a consultant as it works to make recommendations tasked by the commission.
The request was simple: Hire an expert to help evaluate what’s been lost, what’s still worth saving and how to go about keeping more old homes off the rubble pile.
But preservation debates in the city have a long tradition of drawing entrenched camps in which one side argues private property rights trump all else and that public dollars shouldn’t be used on private assets while another side says each teardown irreversibly erases a piece of the charm, eclectic architecture and history that makes Winter Park so unique and desirable.
The latest round of preservation talks are complicated by the backdrop of the Florida Legislature’s special session next week that could result in a proposal to significantly decrease property taxes collected by local governments such as Winter Park to pay for needs such as police, fire rescue, parks, roads and more.
“I don’t think history can just live on a plaque or marker, it has to be seen and observed,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram, who said during the discussion at Wednesday’s commission meeting that she supported hiring an expert to focus on the task of forming a historic preservation strategy for the city. “I don’t believe the Historic Preservation Board can do this on their own … they could put out a call for guidance and start planning for creating this position for historic preservation.”
Ingram noted that other cities have designated historic preservation officers with specialized expertise that members of the volunteer advisory board may not have.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio almost immediately threw water on that idea.
“But how are we going to pay for a person, Commissioner Ingram? Where do we get the money?” DeCiccio asked.
Earlier in the meeting the mayor said the property tax reform being pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis could mean, “We’re not going to have any more taxes … I don’t know how we are going to keep the roads going … keep City Hall going?”
Betsy Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz, countered that local governments make funding choices all the time when something matters.
“We find room in the city budget for a lot of things we value,” she said. “We spent $200,000 today to undo a mistake that was made on the golf course … Heaven help us if we can’t find a few thousand dollars to hire a respected consultant to guide us through this process and help us out of this quandary.”
Earlier this month the city shut down the Winter Park Nine after the wrong chemical was applied to the course, killing off the grass. On Wednesday the commission approved a $197,000 course maintenance contract for four months — or nearly $50,000 per month. City Manager Randy Knight said the purpose was to test whether staff should farm out golf course maintenance or keep it in house.
The longtime owners are selling the property and the contracted buyer is seeking special permission to split the lot in two so that the Merrywood portion can be sold off again and a new home can be constructed on a new lot next to it.
Without a buyer willing to restore Merrywood, it appears destined for the bulldozer whether or not the Planning & Zoning Board approves the lot split request at a hearing scheduled for next Tuesday at 5 p.m. And, so far, no buyer has emerged, Owens said.
People who showed up to speak on the matter at Wednesday’s meeting lamented the potential loss.
Carolyn Gould, who has lived in the city 70 years, said she recalls riding her bike down Palmer Avenue past Merrywood and the wonder it inspired even from the driveway gate.
“When it’s bulldozed it’s gone,” she said. “You need to walk through those rooms and look through those windows … the moldings and appointments are just one-of-a-kind … I’m on fire about this for some reason. We have to get busy and do something.”
Daryl Carter, who purchased and renovated a Gamble Rogers house on Palmer Avenue in recent years, said most people who looked at the home considered tearing it down.
“We did not,” he said. “Our house doesn’t have a historic designation. We did what we did voluntarily … we love beauty, but we’re also private property owners and believe in private property rights. I hope this board will take that into consideration and not take private property rights from owners.”
While some cities designate properties as historic without an owner’s consent, no one is suggesting such a policy change in Winter Park.
The discussion is more about how to offer additional incentives to urge more people to seek historic designation if their property qualifies. The city has the ability in its code already to provide tax exemptions to historic properties, though no one appears to be taking advantage of that as of now, said Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis. The city also offers a 50 percent matching grant for renovation work that qualifies, up to $18,000, she said.
The local historic register and designated historic districts do not outright prohibit demolition in Winter Park. But the request must be approved by the Historic Preservation Board. The board does not have control over interior renovations — only major changes to the facade of the structure.
Those who designate their homes often receive special permission for variances during a renovation that wouldn’t be allowed in a non-historic structure and they are also allowed to add accessory dwelling units (such as a small rental or mother-in-law suite) to their properties.
“We have the easiest to skirt around ordinance in the entire state of Florida,” said Aimee Spencer, a former member of the Historic Preservation Board who lives in a 102-year-old house. “Even Quincy, Florida out does us in their preservation standards,” she noted of the Panhandle town of fewer than 8,000 people.
She said Winter Park needs better rules and also education against misinformation circulating about historic homes such as how they are ineligible for financing or insurance.
“I have a typical mortgage and homeowners insurance with State Farm,” she said. “It’s not a problem to insure or finance.”
Kelsey Wolfe, who serves on the preservation board, noted the board is all volunteers with related skills and a passion, but not necessarily the professional expertise needed to prepare a comprehensive strategy to shift the direction from tear downs to preservation.
“We’ve spent countless hours making changes to the ordinance already and we are waiting on a survey that hasn’t been done in 20 years and we brainstorm every meeting and work session about the very thing you’re officially charging us with,” Wolfe said. “The vast majority of our ideas and requests don’t get implemented because we don’t have the help or the budget.”
She noted that the McGillis, the staff person devoted to the Historic Preservation Board also oversees all of Planning & Zoning for the entire city.
The commission remained unmoved, however, and voted 4-0 to charge the advisory board with formulating recommendations without, at least for the time being, any additional resources.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect Winter Park’s current property tax exemption and matching grant program for historic properties that qualify.
Rare Peacock, White as Snow, Turning Heads in Winter Park
City Commission also sets a discussion about the fate of Blue Bamboo for next month and green lights a new parking garage
May 14, 2026
By Beth Kassab
City Manager Randy Knight was at home one day about a week ago when spotted a strange sight out his window.
Perched on his neighbor’s fence was one of the city’s trademark peacocks, but not the vibrant blue and green variety enshrined on the city’s seal.
“It was all white,” Knight said. “I don’t know if I have ever heard of a white one.”
Neighbors have spotted a rare white peacock near the Winter Park Pines Golf Course. (Photos courtesy of Randy Knight)
It was such a rare sight, he immediately snapped some photos and let his neighbors know, too.
Now the snow white peacock is getting buzz like occasional sightings of celebrities on Park Avenue (think comedian Carrot Top or, a few years ago, Paul McCartney).
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who also lives near the Winter Park Pines Golf Course, said he hasn’t seen the rare bird yet, but is on the lookout.
It looks “almost heavenly, like an angel practically,” in the photos, he said, after he brought up Knight’s sighting at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting.
White peacocks occur in the wild at an estimated rate of just one in 30,000, according to a post published last year by the Environmental Literacy Council. They are found in Florida and California and descend when a genetic mutation occurs in the more common Indian Blue Peafowl.
The white peacock perched on a roof in Winter Park recently.
Winter Park is well known for the blue variety, which have lived for decades in the Windsong neighborhood, often spotted along Genius Drive.
The council’s post reported that most white peacocks are not albino, but have a condition known as leucism, which results in a reduction of pigment and can still have blue eyes.
Knight said he read that white peacocks can struggle to find mates because they lack the typical brightly colored plume and perhaps this one made its way from the Windsong area to his neighborhood.
“I’ve never even seen the colorful kind in our neighborhood,” Knight said. “I don’t know if this one was in Windsong and started looking for love in all the wrong places, but its been there for about a week and a half.”
Knight, who is set to retire early next year after 35 years with the city, joked that perhaps it’s a good sign for his next chapter.
“It does mean prosperity,” he said.
Blue Bamboo Discussion to be in June
The City Commission on Wednesday scheduled a work session about the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts’ proposed sublease to a school for June 25.
While members of the public are typically not allowed to speak at work sessions, commissioners said they would make an exception and allow people to sign up to voice their opinions at the June meeting.
There was a brief debate among commissioners about whether the work session should take up only the proposed sublease or if there should also be a discussion about what to do with the building if Blue Bamboo is unable to continue operating after its lease payments are scheduled to increase in August.
The comments signaled a clear concern by multiple commissioners about the future of the operation if a sublease is not approved.
“To me, it feels strange to discuss, if they don’t stick around past August, to discuss future plans with them there,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram.
“I would concur with you. I don’t want to talk about trying to sell it out from under them while they are still in there making lease payments,” Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said.
The Blue Bamboo, which opened last summer, has so far met its financial obligations to the city and President Jeff Flowers said the venue is mostly booked with shows through January. But Flowers has also acknowledged the importance of a sublease for the second and third floors to help the music venue cover its increasing rent payments.
A New Parking Garage Behind City Hall
Commissioners on Wednesday also decided to move forward with asking developers for concepts to build a parking garage behind City Hall to help alleviate concerns about enough parking spaces off Park Avenue.
The idea is that the city would provide the land — now a parking lot — and a developer would build the garage, potentially with retail or other commercial spaces, as a public-private partnership.
The city’s ask is for a minimum of 265 spaces or a minimum of 120 new parking spots in the area on top of what is needed for city employees and operations.
Whether the new public parking is free and how many spaces will be added will be part of the negotiations as the city reviews whatever ideas are submitted in the coming months.
Most commissioners appeared in favor of a new garage, but Ingram expressed reservations.
“I’m going to be a hard sell on parking garage but I might be out-voted anyways,” she said. “I just feel it is so permanent and so in your face … I can still find a parking spot anytime I come down here. Sometimes it’s a little farther away or I have to circle around, but even at Christmastime I can find a parking spot.”
Other commissioners agreed they can also typically find spots — and know where to look because they live there — but fear visitors are unfamiliar with the side streets and might experience more frustration at peak times. According to city data the Park Avenue area attracted some 3 million visitors last year.
Preservation Advocates Say Winter Park Must Do More to Save Historic Homes
With three John Gamble Rogers II homes under threat of demolition this year, advocate says dwindling assets should serve as ‘wake up call’
May 14, 2026
By Beth Kassab
With three homes designed by James Gamble Rogers II currently under threat of demolition, historic preservation advocates pleaded with the City Commission on Wednesday to make meaningful changes to the way Winter Park protects its historic assets.
Betsy Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz and granddaughter of Gamble Rogers, said she hopes the potential loss of three significant houses — all more than 85 years old — in a single year will serve as a “wake up call” for the city to strengthen its historic preservation ordinance. She said the city’s ordinance is among “the weakest in the state.”
“These are not anonymous old buildings,” Owens said. “They are irreplaceable works by the architect who more than any other helped define the visual character of Winter Park.”
None of the three homes are listed on the city’s historic register, meaning there is no protection from demolition. The register is voluntary and many owners deliberately opt to keep homes off the register under the theory that the home will be worth more without demolition restrictions.
Owens, and other advocates who spoke at the meeting, including Jack Rogers, said it’s time for Winter Park to get serious about preservation.
They are recommending the commission consider adding incentives such as property tax breaks or rehabilitation help for people who list their homes on the register. They are also calling for new ideas such as an investment fund to help with purchasing and then reselling historic homes to people who are willing to invest in and preserve them.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio recommended a discussion about potential changes be added to the next City Commission meeting on May 27 and the other commissioners agreed. The commission would likely send the matter to the Historic Preservation Board for further evaluation before making a final decision on changes.
The homes currently under threat are:
1020 Palmer Avenue, also known as Merrywood, which is under active demolition permit and could be demolished by the end of May. The home is one of the largest and most ornate in the dwindling collection of Gamble Rogers homes. Tara Tedrow, the prospective buyer who has the property under contract, facilitated the demolition permit in March and is also asking the city to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the lakefront property to be split into two lots. Under that scenario, she said, she would attempt to find a buyer interested in restoring Merrywood while her family could build a new home on the other portion of the property. A Planning & Zoning Board hearing on the request was delayed at Tedrow’s request until June. “Despite enormous public interest and dozens of interested investors touring the property, no buyer has yet emerged able to reconcile the nearly $10 million (estimated) asking price with the substantial restoration needs of the house, conservatively estimated at more than $3 million,” Owens said in an email to supporters.
250 Virginia Drive sits on a large lot overlooking Lake Virginia. The home was sold last year for $2.6 million and a demolition permit was filed by the new owner last month. The home is considered an example of the Colonial Revival style with strong New England influences, including shaker shingles.
617 Interlachen Avenue is possibly “the most eclectic and artistically ambitious of Rogers’ Spanish Eclectic residences. There is no demolition permit filed yet, but Rogers said the home is expected to go up for sale soon and in one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods. “History has shown that when the dirt beneath a home becomes worth many multiples of the structure itself, it is time for that home to get its affairs in order,” she said.
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