by Beth Kassab | May 9, 2023 | City Commission, Library, News, Uncategorized
Six nonprofits seek space in old library
Vocal arts group, space museum and theater among contenders to redevelop New England Avenue property
By Beth Kassab
A half dozen nonprofits declared interest in the old Winter Park Library site, answering the city’s call for concepts to remake the old building into a space with an arts and culture component.
The letters of interest to reuse or demolish the 33,000-square-foot former library are scheduled to be discussed at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting along with a separate call for concepts to develop space above the parking lot at the new Seven Oaks Park.
The commission set several guidelines for concepts related to plans for the 1.75-acre library site. Preference will be given to ideas that keep the first floor free of any residential units, don’t require any off-site parking and preserve the oak tree on the east side of the building.
Parking is likely to become a central issue in light of the commission’s recent approval of Rollins College’s plans to build a new art museum and business graduate school nearby as the Alfond Inn undergoes an expansion.
The ideas submitted for the old library site include:
- Central Florida Vocal Arts and Opera del Sol. The nonprofit currently without a permanent space is looking to use the entire building to create an arts cooperative that would include the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra and Emotions Dance. The group led by Theresa Smith-Levin stated it is willing to negotiate a lease for the space and does not intend to use it as a main performance venue. Central Florida Vocal Arts included several letters of support for its concept and said it has funding support from several high-profile philanthropic organizations such as the Edyth Bush Foundation, United Arts of Central Florida and the Ginsburg Foundation.
- SkyBuilders 4 All. The group led by Executive Director Carissa Villa describes itself as seeking community development and housing solutions and says it will need about 1,000 square feet for office and project space. The group also provides personal and business financial education.
- Saving Our Aeronautical Resources Museum. SOAR is a new nonprofit created to inspire kids to go into STEM fields with a special emphasis on space exploration. The group says it will have “generous contributions” from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, Boeing and Kennedy Space Center for an estimated $3 million “build out.” The total cost of the museum is $10.5 million, according to the documents submitted. The idea is to host school field trips and other groups to engage more kids in scientific fields. Ravi Margasahayam, an aerospace engineer who spent 35 years with NASA; Gary Duce, president of Space Training Academy & Research and Susan Omoto, executive director at Casa Feliz, are behind the proposal.
- Winter Park History Museum. The well-known group is looking to expand its current space from about 900 square-feet to about 5,000-square-feet for a mix of permanent and rotating exhibits and office space.
- Winter Park Playhouse. The community theater that is losing its lease next year has expressed interest in potential space at Seven Oaks Park, but also submitted a letter of interest for the old library. It is seeking to use about a third of the old building for a 150-175-seat theater.
- Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. The group is looking for about 1,500 square-feet for permanent office and meeting space to manage one of Winter Park’s best-known annual events.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 27, 2023 | City Commission, News, Uncategorized, Zoning and Development
Rollins museum and grad school expansion win approval
Residents concerned expansion would create more traffic and worsen parking woes
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park Commissioners unanimously approved a revised plan by Rollins College to build a new art museum and expand the Crummer Graduate School of Business north of Fairbanks Avenue near the college’s growing Alfond Inn despite concerns from residents and others about parking, traffic and noise.
The concept for the block bordered by New England, Interlachen, Lyman and Knowles avenues was approved by the commission three years ago before the pandemic delayed the project.
On Wednesday, commissioners approved changes that include a lawn on the corner of Interlachen and New England that would preserve trees, a smaller Crummer building and slightly smaller signage on the outside of the museum along with a condition intended to help alleviate concerns from nearby residents of $1 million-plus condo units about what they said could be noisy and unsightly roof-top air-conditioning units.
Planning & Zoning Director Jeff Briggs said the city’s studies have shown the impact of the project on traffic and parking would be minimal despite the loss of the surface parking lot currently on the property.
“It’s important that we don’t let the details get in the way of the big picture,” Briggs said. “We are the city of the arts and culture and how lucky can we be to be getting a world-class art museum brought to the city for free with Rollins paying for it?”
He said the plans are consistent with the city’s long-time goal of attracting “the educated elite” and the site “on the doorstep of the central business district could not be a better location for that to happen.”
But residents along with the president of the Women’s Club of Winter Park, which operates next to the site owned by Rollins, questioned that assessment because they said the surface lot on the property today is crucial to accommodate crowds in the area off Park Avenue, especially during weddings and events.
“This parking is heavily used,” said Carey Stowe, who lives in The Residences condo tower on Interlachen. “I think the whole traffic situation is getting glossed over just a little bit,” noting that he estimated about 100 spaces will be lost, a significant change not just for people who live nearby, but for anyone who likes to shop or dine on Park Avenue.
Briggs said Rollins freed up parking spaces in the Truist Garage just south of the block in question when it built a new 900-space garage for students and staff on the corner of Fairbanks and Ollie avenues.
Later in the meeting, after Rollins’ plans were approved, Commissioner Sheila DeCiccio said she’s heard a flood of complaints about the lack of parking off Park Avenue and asked the commission and city staff to consider building a new parking garage behind City Hall, roughly three blocks from the new museum.
“Let’s take a look and see if it’s something the commission is interested in pursuing,” DeCiccio said.
Mayor Phil Anderson suggested city staff “dust off” earlier plans for the potential garage and bring them forward for a review.
Rollins will provide 30 parking spaces on the museum and Crummer school site.
Rollins President Grant Cornwell told the commission that the project is “strategically very important to the college” to showcase it’s top-rated MBA program as well as its art collection. While the college owns 6,000 pieces of art, it’s only able to display 150 or so at a time at the current museum.
“We feel we have a civic obligation and we have a great desire to lift that collection up and bring it into the center of Winter Park,” Cornwell said.
Margery Pabst Steinmetz, a philanthropist known for the hall that bears her name inside Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center and who serves on the board of the Rollins Art Museum, said the current gallery is “bursting at the seams” and called on the commissioners to take a long view of what will be left behind when they are gone.
“I’d like us to think about a day when none of us are here … 100 years from now, what will be left in Winter Park?” she asked. “The cultural institutions of the city. I think we will all be very proud looking down from somewhere that this was created and it continues to serve our city in huge ways. I urge you to vote yes on this project.”
Becky Wilson, an attorney with the Lowndes firm representing Rollins, said the college has already agreed to leave certain buildings on the property tax rolls despite its nonprofit status to help generate revenue for the city and will provide five additional parking spaces for a total of 15 in a garage for people who live in the Residences condominiums. She also said the college has agreed to use the same acoustic engineer who helped dampen sound from air-conditioning units at the Alfond Inn that were the subject of a lawsuit between the condo owners and the hotel operated by the college.
City commissioners voted for city staff to have some oversight of the noise and view of the rooftop air-conditioning units planned for the museum and new Crummer building.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 19, 2023 | City Commission, Library, News
In Brief: More money for public art, Dinky Dock changes and the new fate of the old library
Recent action by the City Commission will pave the way for more art as well as changes at two high-profile landmarks
After years of trying, Winter Park’s Public Art Advisory Board won approval this month for what will likely be a small, but steady stream of funds from the city budget to help pay for art in public spaces.
The City Commission unanimously approved a plan to dedicate 10% of any increase in the Unassigned General Fund each year to the project. That’s the same formula the city uses to devote money to the acquisition of park land, a plan that has raised about $1 million since it went into place in 2003 at an average of more than $50,000 a year.
While a lot of variables can impact the city budget each year, officials said they expect the public art fund to perform at a similar level.
Members of the public art board pleaded with members of the commission last week to approve the proposal and expressed concern that the “city of culture and heritage” didn’t have dedicated funding for art. The City Commission rejected a proposal last year to create a stream of art funding from building permit fees.
“We have nothing to make our ideas happen,” said Elizabeth Ingram, a member of the Public Art Advisory Board for about a year who also grew up in Winter Park. “It’s disappointing when there isn’t anything to bring those to our city. I don’t think we can rely on private donors anymore.”
Tinker Marsh, another member of the board, also expressed surprise that board did not have any dollars to spend on its mission.
“We really need to make Winter Park the first-class community we know it is,” Marsh said.
The board has discussed recommending works of art for the new Seven Oaks Park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park and other city gateways.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan called the funding plan a “good start.”
“This is a very good move in the right direction,” he said.
New plans for the old library
Since the new Winter Park Library and Events Center opened, ideas and debate have swirled around what to do with the old library site on the corner of East Fairbanks and Lyman avenues.
Commissioners rejected a proposal earlier this year to repurpose the old building by transforming it into office and business incubator space among other uses.
Now, however, there appears to be agreement among the commission to ask developers for new ideas and, this time around, allow residential units and also permit the building to be demolished rather than reused.
Commissioners agreed at a work session last week to consider putting out a new Request for Proposal as soon as next month.
A spokeswoman for Rollins College said the school is not currently interested in the site and is considering a workforce housing project elsewhere.
Workforce housing is a hot topic in Winter Park as home prices have soared beyond the means of many of the people who work for some of the city’s largest employers such as Rollins, the hospital and City Hall.
More parking at Dinky Dock
The number of parking spaces at the popular Dinky Dock public boat ramp will increase by 50% to 33 regular spaces and 12 trailer spaces, under a plan approved by the City Commission.
Repairs will also be made to the dock’s boardwalk.
The city will spend about $154,000 on the project from the more than $15 million it received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act or COVID stimulus money approved by Congress in 2021.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 14, 2023 | City Commission, News, Orange Avenue Overlay, Tree Canopy
Winter Park breaks ground on Seven Oaks Park, will seek performance space proposals
After the ceremony the City Commission held a work session and signaled it will ask developers to submit concepts for a piece of the park
By Beth Kassab
A crowd gathered Thursday morning under a tent to break ground at Seven Oaks Park surrounded by the namesake Live Oaks taking root along the perimeter of the wedge-shaped lot that comes to a point at Orange Avenue and Denning Drive.
“In the future you won’t need the tent, the trees will provide the shade,” said Larry Adams, principal at ACI Architecture, who designed the city’s newest park and has been involved in the concept from the start, creating the first set of blueprints pro bono.
A construction manager is expected to be chosen for the 2.4-acre project soon, Winter Park Mayor Phil Anderson said. Renderings call for the greenspace to become a community gathering spot that also helps link Mead Botanical Gardens with Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
Anderson called the park a “three-year work in progress” after delays brought by the pandemic and hurricanes and noted the mature oaks planted last year at the site formerly known as Progress Point are a “symbolic start to putting something in place that will last for generations.” Anderson said Seven Oaks Park is due to open in mid-2024.
In a nod to the city’s love of its tree canopy, Anderson declared April 13 “Arbor Day” for Winter Park, and the Urban Forestry department gave away trees to residents.
Steve Goldman, chairman of the Winter Park Land Trust, thanked city officials and others who helped shepherd the project along to provide a green refuge from concrete and traffic. “It takes a village,” said Goldman, who is also a founder and financial supporter of the Winter Park Voice.
Mayor Phil Anderson gives remarks at the groundbreaking for Seven Oaks Park.
Just hours later Anderson and city commissioners moved beyond symbolism to the nitty gritty of how they want a specific area of the park developed.
For months, Winter Parkers have debated whether the Winter Park Playhouse should move to Seven Oaks Park since its leaders announced the popular theater would lose its lease next year.
Commissioner Todd Weaver proposed a concept that called for the playhouse to be built above the parking lot at the new park along with solar panels.
That idea appeared to gain traction with commissioners, who agreed at the work session that they would soon formally vote on asking for proposals for performance spaces combined with a potential café or other uses in the airspace above the parking lot area.
Heather Alexander, founder and executive director of the playhouse, said she planned to submit a proposal. The building would be paid for by the playhouse and would not require public dollars, she said. But if the theater ever left the park, the building would belong to the city.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 10, 2023 | City Commission, News, Orange Avenue Overlay, Uncategorized, Zoning and Development
Seven Oaks Park to break ground as commission set to discuss if theater can move there
The new park is designed to be a green refuge along a busy stretch of Orange Avenue and the concept of moving the Winter Park Playhouse there remains controversial
By Beth Kassab
City officials will gather Thursday morning to break ground on the long-awaited Seven Oaks Park at the corner of Orange Avenue and Denning Drive.
The public ceremony set for 10 a.m. comes as the City Commission is set to discuss key aspects of the 1.5-acre park’s future this week at two additional public meetings on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.
Central to those talks is a proposal by Commissioner Todd Weaver for the Winter Park Playhouse, which is losing the lease for its current building on Orange Avenue, to move to the park. A meeting last month some residents expressed support for the concept, but others expressed concerns it would take away from the feel of the park and add congestion to nearby neighborhoods.
Weaver’s plan calls for the theater to be part of the second story of a parking structure that also houses solar panels.
A brief summary included in the agenda for Wednesday’s City Commission meeting notes that city staff met with the executive director of the playhouse, who said the building would need to be 12,000 to 15,000-square feet and sit as many as 175 people, up from the 123 seats at the current theater.
The playhouse will also need 38 to 44 parking spaces to meet zoning requirements, according to the memo. One question is whether there will be enough space to accommodate enough additional parking intended for the park that will help nearby businesses that rely mostly on street parking.
The groundbreaking ceremony is open to the public on Thursday morning. The Seven Oaks name for the site formerly known as Progress Point was selected earlier this year in a public online vote in tribute to the seven large Live Oak trees planted on the property in 2022.
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by Beth Kassab | Mar 23, 2023 | City Commission, Orange Avenue Overlay
Commissioner asks if Playhouse could build in new park's surface lot
In an attempt to find a new home for the beloved Winter Park theater, Todd Weaver proposes park could be the answer without eating away greenspace
Intense debate erupted earlier this month when the operators of Winter Park Playhouse announced they were losing their lease and asked the City Commission if the small theater could find a home in the new Seven Oaks Park at the corner of Orange Avenue and Denning Drive.
Some argued the playhouse needs to remain in Winter Park, which is a challenge because of high commercial rents and land prices, and suggested there would be room to build a theater in the area already set aside for a building at the under-construction park. But critics of that plan countered that the theater would subtract from the park’s long-desired greenspace and worsen parking and traffic problems for nearby businesses and residents.
On Wednesday, Commissioner Todd Weaver proposed a meet-in-the-middle solution, though a number of questions remain. He presented PowerPoint slides that showed how the playhouse could construct a 12,000-square-foot theater by elevating it above the 36,000-square-foot parking lot already planned for the park. There is also enough space for solar awnings to help power the theater and park, he said.
The pink area shows the parking lot planned for Seven Oaks Park.
Under that concept, Weaver said, none of the planned greenspace or any of the 91 parking spaces on the site formerly known as Progress Point would disappear to accommodate the theater. (Commissioners officially named the new park Seven Oaks on Wednesday after an online public vote.)
“Time is of the essence,” Weaver said, noting that the playhouse has 18 months to find a new space and he’s heard from a number of residents who want to keep the theater in the city.
He also said an earlier suggestion to reuse the old Winter Park Library for the theater likely would not work because the ceiling heights are too low.
Under Weaver’s proposal, the city would negotiate a land lease with Winter Park Playhouse, but the nonprofit operators would be responsible for raising the money to build the new theater as well as maintain and operate the building.
Heather Alexander, founder of the playhouse, along with Mayor Phil Anderson and Commissioner Sheila DeCiccio expressed support for the concept.
“We never got into this request to start a fight,” Alexander said. “This would solve certainly our problems and allow us to go forward with a capital campaign.”
The concept will likely be evaluated in more detail at a meeting next month.
“This wouldn’t impact any of the greenspace,” Weaver said. “The parking lot can be shaded, which I love.”
While that plan would not decrease the number of parking spots already planned for the site, it would prevent a future parking garage from being built there. Parking is a sore spot among businesses along Orange Avenue, which have been looking forward to relief for their patrons from a surface lot at the new park.
Construction on Seven Oaks Park is set to break ground next month.
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