by Beth Kassab | Jan 21, 2025 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Warren Lindsey walks into Commission Seat 4 without opposition
Incumbent Kris Cruzada draws opponent Justin Vermuth for Commission Seat 3 as qualifying ended Tuesday ahead of the March election
Jan. 21, 2025
By Beth Kassab
First-time candidate and local defense attorney Warren Lindsey was automatically elected to the Winter Park City Commission on Tuesday after no other candidates qualified by the noon deadline.
Lindsey will take Seat 4 in the place of Todd Weaver after a swearing-in ceremony set for late March. Weaver opted not to run again.
He said he looked forward to getting to know more city staff and preparing to start his term.
“The polestar of my service will be to always put the interests of our citizens first and to promote our local businesses,” said Lindsey, a registered Democrat, on Tuesday afternoon.
Kris Cruzada
City elections are technically nonpartisan, but party politics historically bleeds into the campaigns and, in turn, some city issues with local party officials providing funding and campaign help.
Records show Lindsey raised nearly $35,000 for his campaign, including a $20,000 loan from himself. Contributors included prominent Democratic donors such as former Mayor Phil Anderson and Jennifer Anderson as well as Republicans such as former City Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel.
Lindsey currently serves on the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission and played a role in pushing Rollins College to agree to make partial tax payments on an apartment project the liberal arts school proposed as a way to provide a more affordable housing option close to campus for its early career faculty. In August, the City Commission approved the project, including the first-of-its-kind PILOT or payment in lieu of taxes agreement between the city and a tax-exempt nonprofit, after multiple revisions to the apartments’ architecture.
“I thought that project represented a constructive and collaborative effort by the city, Rollins and the surrounding neighbors,” he said. “It resulted in a quality project with less density and more parking than originally proposed.”
Justin Vermuth
Joining Lindsey on the dais for a new term in March will be the winner of a two-way contest for Seat 3 between incumbent Kris Cruzada, an attorney, and newcomer Justin Vermuth, an attorney who works as a lobbyist for the timeshare industry. The election is March 11.
Cruzada, a Republican who was first elected to the commission in 2022, grew up in the area and said he wants to continue to serve the residents for another term to “focus on infrastructure, keep our milage rate low and partner with nonprofit institutions on arts and culture,” among other issues.
“Between 36 months ago to today, I’ve learned a lot,” Cruzada said. “I think the record of the commission with Seven Oaks Park, the redevelopment of Winter Park Village, the redevelopment of the former Bank of the Ozarks property has all laid a good foundation for how we would like to develop moving forward.”
Records show Cruzada has raised $1,700.
He said he doesn’t know Vermuth well, but did appoint him to the Lakes and Waterways Board in 2022.
“I look forward to hearing what he has to say and I hope it’s a collegial race where the residents will have the ability to fully discern and decide who will be best for the city of Winter Park,” Cruzada said.
Vermuth did not return messages seeking comment for this story. Because he just entered the race he has not yet filed a campaign finance report. His LinkedIn profile lists him as the senior vice president for government affairs for the American Resort Development Association, which represents the timeshare industry.
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by Beth Kassab | Jan 6, 2025 | City Commission, Election, Historic Preservation, News, Uncategorized
Winter Park Playhouse, a commissioner's home and gas leaf blower ban top first agenda of 2025
Commissioners are slated to move forward on the purchase of the Playhouse building as Blue Bamboo seeks to move ahead with renovations at the old library. Changes to historic preservation rules as well as a designation of a commissioner’s home on the local register also up for consideration
Jan. 6, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park commissioners will return to the dais on Wednesday for the first time in the new year with an agenda that also highlights some of the issues that are likely to remain front and center through the first half of 2025.
Let’s dive right in:
The arts scene
After a long period of uncertainty about its future, the Winter Park Playhouse appears on a solid path to expanding in the same place patrons have come to love the community theater.
Commissioners will take a vote on the contract to purchase the building, part of a deal use Orange County tourist tax dollars for the acquisition and renovations that would allow the playhouse to stay put. The nonprofit theater was unable to purchase the building on its own and risked losing its stage if the land was bought and redeveloped by another owner.
The city considered multiple options, with some commissioners even angling to help the theater construct a new building in Seven Oaks Park, but ultimately settled on applying for a Tourist Development Tax grant. The county awarded the city $8 million in the fall to move forward on the project.
The city will purchase the building at 711 N. Orange Ave. for $3.8 million following a 60-day inspection period if the contract is approved. The remainder of the grant along with $2 million to be raised by the playhouse will go toward expanding seating capacity by 50% and other upgrades.
According to a staff memorandum posted with the City Commission agenda, the purchase would not impose any immediate costs to the city because it intends to enter a lease with the Playhouse that says the theater is financially responsible for all upkeep. But with the city as the owner of the land, it’s likely that the property will become exempt from taxes that fund city and county services such as roads, parks and schools — an estimated loss of about $15,000 each year to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
At the same time, Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts is moving forward on its plans to renovate the old library, which it’s leasing from the city.
A rendering shows the proposed entrance for the new Blue Bamboo, which plans to repurpose the old library. (Courtesy of Blue Bamboo)
Executive Director Chris Cortez said the project is in the second round of permitting revisions and he hopes to start construction work soon. He is targeting opening the first floor of the building as a venue space during the first quarter of this year. Aside from adding stages and seating and making the bathrooms accessible to people who use wheelchairs, his team is looking at other changes such as converting the former book store into a space for records and retail similar to the Blue Bamboo’s old lobby.
“We love the original design,” Cortez said. “We aren’t proposing very many changes to the building structure at all.”
Historic Preservation
It’s unusual for city commissioners to bring business before their own board, but that will happen Wednesday when Todd Weaver asks fellow commissioners to add his home on Lake Bell to the city’s Register of Historic Places.
Weaver said he’s been contemplating historic designation for the mid-century modern home west of U.S. 17-92 for some time and decided to take action before longtime Planning Director Jeff Briggs retires this month.
Critics have asserted that Weaver has flouted city rules by adding on to the home without proper permits. But Weaver disputes those claims, noting that his neighborhood wasn’t annexed by the city until 2004 and the work he did was permitted by Orange County.
The home includes a 515-square-foot detached space that Weaver calls a “cottage.” He said it started out as a shed and was used as his shop for a time before he made changes to convert it into a living space.
Before he knew it was against city code, he rented out the cottage. But Weaver said he hasn’t done so since 2018 when he learned short-term rentals were not permitted by Winter Park.
He said he now offers the space for free to artists who are coming through town to perform with the opera or philharmonic.
A historic designation would allow Weaver to rent out the cottage for a minimum of 30 days at a time. Owners of historic homes are granted that perk to add value to properties that they have agreed not to demolish and rebuild at a larger footprint.
But Weaver says he doesn’t intend to take advantage of that provision.
“I don’t have any plans of renting it out now,” he said, but will allow the arts community to continue to use the space.
The Historic Preservation Board recommended last month that the home be added to the register.
“Many of these low-sloped roof, one-story homes from the 1950s are what the city routinely sees for tear-downs and rebuilds,” read the staff report. “Especially in lakefront locations. What this historic designation will do is to maintain the scale and look of the original homes built in this neighborhood.”
Commissioners will also consider new procedures and penalties when it comes to unauthorized construction or demolitions of historic properties. The changes are in response to recent violations in historic neighborhoods.
Under the proposed new rules, the ordinance would add a review process of construction plans after the initial approval. The code will also clarify that any authorized alterations or demolitions must be replaced by architectural styling from the era represented in the neighborhood, often from the 1920s to the 1940s.
In addition, if a structure is demolished without authorization, the city can revoke setback variances previously granted on the property in exchange for preservation. The new code also says property owners can propose financial compensation to the city as a way of retaining setback variances.
March elections
So far, the two City Commission seats up for grabs this year, have attracted just one candidate each. Without opposition, those candidates will be automatically elected and there will be no need for poll workers, ballot counting or any of the other related Election Day infrastructure.
As a result, commissioners will vote on Wednesday whether to convert the referendum on gas-powered leaf blowers to a mail-only ballot. The question before voters — if the city should keep and begin enforcing its ban on the lawn tools that generate frequent noise complaints — is the only other item on the March 11 ballot aside from the commission seats.
Commissioners gave initial approval in December to a mail ballot if no other candidates qualify to run for commissioner by the deadline at noon on Jan. 21.
So far Kris Cruzada, the incumbent, has filed to run again for Seat 3. Warren Lindsey, a criminal defense attorney, filed to run for Seat 4 after incumbent Todd Weaver opted not to run again.
The board is required to vote on the change a second time and will also consider revised wording intended to clarify the ballot question.
Up for discussion
Commissioners are also set to approve their own meeting schedule for the first quarter, including a series of discussion-only workshops through March. The topics of those meetings help illustrate the board’s upcoming priorities:
Jan. 23: The concepts for a Park Avenue refresh project
Feb. 13: A debate about the process and criteria, if any, the city should consider when awarding grants to local nonprofits
Feb. 27: Changes to the city’s election code
March 13: The group’s first discussion about the 2026 budget
March 27: The city’s street sweeping policy
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by Beth Kassab | Dec 10, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Referendum on gas leaf blower ban could be conducted by mail
The vote along with money for flood fixes and a new policy to sell ads and sponsorships for the Parks & Rec department will be considered at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting
Dec. 10, 2024
By Beth Kassab
So far the two seats on the City Commission up for election next year have attracted just one candidate each. That’s left city leaders contemplating how to conduct a referendum on whether the city should keep its ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.
On Wednesday, Commissioners will consider authorizing the referendum to be conducted by mail and, possibly, at a later date if the races for seats 3 and 4 remain unopposed when the official qualifying period ends on Jan. 21.
The referendum was scheduled to appear on the March 11 ballot with those two races. But, as of now, Commissioner Kris Cruzada is running for re-election to Seat 3 without a challenger. And Warren Lindsey, a first-time candidate and local criminal defense attorney, is the only person to file for Seat 4 since incumbent Todd Weaver opted not to run again.
According to a staff report, “The benefit of moving to a mail ballot, for this single question, would be a reduction in the expense of conducting the election and potentially an increase in voter turnout.”
The memorandum also notes that the commission’s approval would give “flexibility to reschedule the referendum to a later date,” though it doesn’t specify when that could take place.
Naming rights for Parks & Rec?
Soon Winter Park may try to capitalize on its extensive parks and recreation programs, including events, with official sponsorships, advertising and naming rights, according to a plan up for consideration on Wednesday by the City Commission.
City staff estimates the new advertising and sponsorship policy could generate at least $200,000 each year with efforts mostly focused on the city’s two golf courses, the tennis center and “other parks with significant foot traffic.” Notably, Central Park — the flagship green space that runs along Park Avenue — would not be included among the public places where advertising or sponsorships would be sold.
“Today, financial and in-kind support is even more critical as the investment needed to sustain and improve the parks, facilities, and programs continues to rise,” says the staff report. “Like other park and recreation departments across the nation, the parks and recreation department is pursuing more sophisticated business partnerships with the for-profit and non-profit sectors, in the form of events, programs, projects, and site sponsorship along with limited advertising.”
$4.6 million for flooding fixes
After more than a year of study commissioners will consider finalizing the first priorities in a long list of projects needed to shore up Winter Park’s stormwater and drainage system in the wake of major storms and flooding.
Commissioners discussed the projects highlighted by the studies last month and are now poised to approve $4.6 million for the first batch of them.
About $1.6 million is already allocated for the fixes in this year’s budget. Another $3 million will come from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.
The list of specific projects can be found here and here.
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by Beth Kassab | Nov 5, 2024 | Election, News
Kelly Semrad wins County Commission seat over Steve Leary
The UCF professor delivered a clear victory despite being outspent by the former Winter Park mayor
Nov. 5, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Kelly Semrad, who ran on an Orange County Commission race focused on limiting sprawl and diversifying how tourist tax dollars are spent, clinched a decisive victory over Steve Leary, who outspent her by 4 to 1.
Semrad took 57% of the vote compared to Leary’s 43% of the vote for the commission’s District 5 seat, which represents a swath of Orange from downtown Orlando through Winter Park to the eastern rural edges of the county.
“Orange County stood up really loud and proud and said they’ve had enough with irresponsible growth and development,” Semrad said Tuesday night.
She also pointed to clear victories for county charter amendments that voters approved by wide margins to protect the rural boundary and give the County Commission veto power over landowners who want to annex into another jurisdiction such as the city of Orlando.
“It’s really clear that people are fed up with overdevelopment,” Semrad said.
That trend appeared across the county where Nicole Wilson hung on to her District 1 seat and and Mayra Uribe defended her seat in District 3.
Wilson, like Semrad, was far outspent by her opponent, Austin Arthur, who was also heavily backed by development interests.
Leary spent more than $400,000 through his campaign and a political committee he controls compared to about $100,000 spent by Semrad’s campaign, according to campaign finance reports.
“We made a commitment to refuse special interest dollars to prove we were without a doubt standing with the community when it comes to decisions that affect our quality of life,” Semrad said.
Leary did not respond to interview requests throughout the campaign season. Late Wednesday, he posted on his campaign Facebook page that he conceded to Semrad.
“I am very proud of the race that we ran and the support we had district and countywide,” he wrote. “I spoke to Kelly earlier and congratulated her on her victory and offered my assistance in any way possible moving forward.”
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 31, 2024 | Election, News
Steve Leary goes negative against Kelly Semrad in final week of county race
The attacks in the race for the District 5 County Commission seat, which represents Winter Park, lack context
Oct. 30, 2024
By Beth Kassab
With less than a week until Election Day, the battle for the only open Orange County Commission seat on the ballot took a negative turn.
Steve Leary, the former mayor of Winter Park, unleashed a barrage of attack ads against Kelly Semrad, a UCF professor who bested Leary in the Aug. 20 primary by 2,800 votes.
The contest has pitted Leary, who is heavily backed with financial contributions from developers and the tourism industry, against Semrad, an outspoken advocate for checks on growth, particularly in the still rural areas of the county’s eastern edges.
But in a television spot, Leary attempts to paint himself as the environmental advocate and Semrad as supporting sprawl.
Semrad has “no plans to protect Orange County’s environment from urban sprawl,” the ad’s narrator says, going on to say that Semrad’s neighborhood is the “very definition of sprawl” and that her husband works for a developer.
Leary did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story. The Voice reported last month on a text poll sent to some voters that attempted to test potential attacks against Semrad, including the line about her husband.
Semrad called the assertions “outlandish” and pointed to Leary’s list of campaign donors that include companies tied to proposed developments in Orange County that she has worked to stop.
Semrad is an officer in Save Orange County, a group that dates back more than a decade to protect rural lands and fight some proposed housing developments. The group was instrumental in building support for two county charter amendments that will appear on next week’s ballot. One would protect the rural boundary and the second would require county approval for voluntary annexations into other jurisdictions such as the city of Orlando.
She lives in a subdivision just south of Lake Pickett Road in the eastern section of the county where a number of development fights have unfolded. She purchased the home in 2013, according to property records, as she left a job at the University of Florida to become a professor at the University of Central Florida.
She said plans began to unfold in the 1990s for her subdivision to replace diseased citrus crops, a history she learned after moving to the area and said she began to understand what was at stake across east Orange County.
“The entitled rezonings that I live in were the first step in losing the east,” she said. “I didn’t know that when we purchased our house … So we had two choices: to move out or to try to stand up and advocate with (other east Orange residents) and I have been very relentless about trying to advocate for them and with them for a very long time. I’ve never hid where I live.”
Her life partner (they aren’t married) is an engineer who works for a Sanford-based contractor that prepares development sites with clearing, paving, utilities and other services, according to the company’s web site.
Semrad said her opposition to sprawl and her push for more checks and balances of large tracts of land being turned over for development should not be mistaken for a blanket opposition to all development.
“We need development and we need growth,” she said. “If I could say anything about my partner’s line of work it’s that he designs the infrastructure that Orange County needs so desperately,” though she said he does not work on projects in Orange County.
The ad promoting Leary also says that he “turned developers down” as mayor of Winter Park and “put a stop to out-of-control growth.”
It’s not clear what specific developments the ad is referring to and the campaign did not respond to a request for an interview.
As mayor, Leary oversaw major zoning changes to the stretch of Orange Avenue between Park Avenue and U.S. 17-92. The changes to the area known as the Orange Avenue Overlay raised concerns among some residents in the city who did not want to see six-story buildings there that they believed would erode Winter Park’s small town charm and character.
The City Commission elected after he left office took swift action to alter the overlay rules, reducing building heights and adding more green space, among other changes. Those changes prompted large landholders along Orange Avenue to sue the new commission.
Another Leary ad says Semrad has “extremist ideology” and has “met with leaders from Iran and Palestine.”
The basis for those claims?
Semrad spoke at a 2013 meeting in Turkey on behalf of the University of Florida, where she worked as the assistant director of the university’s tourism institute. A number of tourism leaders, including from Iran and Palestine, attended a meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
“This was an organization that was trying to use tourism as a catalyst to alleviate poverty and provide a catalyst for peace between nations,” she said.
According to notes from the meeting on the organization’s web site, Semrad gave an academic presentation about the costs and benefits of tourism in the least-developed countries.
“When you take something so far out of context to try to manipulate someone’s mind, I’m just going to call that a lie,” Semrad said of the assertion that she’s a political “extremist” because she attended a conference related to her job.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 18, 2024 | Election, News, Uncategorized
Steve Leary and Kelly Semrad in final fundraising stretch for District 5 Orange County race
The two are on the Nov. 5 ballot in the only open seat this year for the Orange County Commission
Oct. 18, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Former Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary remains the fundraising leader in the District 5 Orange County Commission race against UCF Professor Kelly Semrad with donors from the tourism and development industries continuing to drive his total.
Leary raised $322,000 and spent $218,000 through his campaign account and a political committee he also controls, according to the most recent filings. The bulk of that came in before the August primary, when Leary trailed Semrad to a second place finish by 2,800 votes.
Recent Leary campaign donations include $12,000 from hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen and his companies plus another $1,000 from Frank Santos, a member of Rosen’s executive team.
On Thursday, Leary posted an endorsement from Rosen on his campaign Facebook page in which Rosen says Leary is “the ONLY candidate qualified to serve.” Leary wrote that he is proud to have Rosen’s support and called him a “TRUE tourism expert” — an apparent dig at Semrad, who is known as an expert in tourism economies and conducts research and teaches at UCF’s college of hospitality management named for Rosen.
Neither Leary nor his campaign responded to a request for an interview for this story.
The Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association’s political committees recently gave Leary $2,000.
Another $2,000 came came from a company affiliated with the developers behind the proposed Sustanee project that includes nearly 2,000 homes on ranchlands in east Orange County. The developers sued the county over the commission’s rejection of the project earlier this year.
Kelly Cohen, a lobbyist for Lake Nona developer Tavistock, which is also attempting to develop additional rural lands, gave $500. Developer Alan Ginsburg and BusinessForce, the political committee for the Orlando Chamber of Commerce, each gave $1,000.
Development of rural lands and how the county should divvy up the dollars collected from the Tourism Development Tax are key issues in the District 5 contest as well as the races for Districts 1 and 3.
The Nov. 5 ballot also includes two questions for voters related to development. The first asks voters to designate a rural boundary in the county and the second would give the County Commission the power to stop potential developers from voluntarily annexing their land into other jurisdictions such as the city of Orlando.
Leary has said he supports establishing the rural boundary, but has not answered a question that would give the rural boundary measure its teeth: Whether he supports the move to allow the county commission to block annexations by the cities.
Semrad is a vocal advocate of both ballot questions and is also pushing for more tourist tax money to be spent on local projects such as transportation vs needs exclusive to the tourism industry.
She has trailed in fundraising with a total of $86,000 so far, according to the available filings. She does not have a political action committee.
Her contributions include $1,000 from Orlando Democrat Rep. Maxwell Frost’s political committee, $500 from Ruth’s List and $1,000 from the Orange County Firefighter’s Association. Her supporters also include local names such as political pundit and advocate Dick Batchelor ($250); retired Judge Cynthia McKinnon ($100) and others.
Semrad said she knows she won’t make up the fundraising gap between her and Leary, but is focusing on talking with as many voters as possible.
“We’ve got more than 100 volunteers who knock on doors every weekend and waive signs,” she said.
While few voters open to door to talk with canvassers face-to-face, she’s noticed many speak to her or the volunteers via phone through their doorbell camera apps — either from inside their homes or wherever they happen to be.
“Those interactions have been way more informative,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘I love your platform,’ … Our numbers are coming in really strong.”
While Leary has a significant fundraising lead over Semrad, he is behind the top fundraisers in Districts 1 and 3 where Austin Arthur raised about $500,000 through his campaign account and political committee and and Mayra Uribe has raised nearly $500,000 through her campaign and committees that have supported her.
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