Candidates’ final push for votes underway

Candidates’ final push for votes underway

Candidates' final push for votes underway

With just one week until Election Day, voters hear closing arguments from candidates

March 11, 2024

By Beth Kassab

With just seven days until election day, candidates are making a final push for votes this week and the latest financial reports reveal who leads in campaign spending and fundraising.

Jason Johnson and Craig Russell, both running for Seat 2 on the City Commission, released dueling closing argument emails over the weekend.

“The results of this race could come down to just a handful of votes,” read an email to voters from Russell’s campaign manager.

The coach and teacher at Winter Park High School is running “to promote transparency, accountability and representation for all our residents,” the email stated.

Russell is bringing the biggest money to the race with his campaign spending $42,000 so far — more than the other two candidates in his race as well the two candidates in the mayor’s race.

The difference is even more stark when coupled with the money raised by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee known as Winter PAC, which raised $21,000 and spent more than $10,000 on Russell’s behalf, according to the reports filed with the city clerk. Russell is the only candidate endorsed by the chamber.

Contributions to the PAC include $7,500 from developer Allan Keen and his wife and one of his business entities, Development Opportunities Holding. Another $1,000 is from Automotive Services Network, a company controlled by the Holler family, which has also been a big contributor to Russell’s campaign account.

The Hollers, which own car dealerships as well as high-visibility Winter Park real estate along Fairbanks, Orange and Park avenues, contributed $8,000 to Russell from their associated businesses. Another $3,000 came from Holler family attorney Frank Hamner and his businesses.

Hamner told the Voice recently that the contributions from himself and the Holler family are unrelated to the family’s development interests in the city and that they know and support Russell as a community and nonprofit leader who serves underprivileged families.

The City Commission balked in January at a request from city staff to include some changes in the comprehensive plan that could potentially make it easier for the Hollers to develop a lot along the busy intersection of Fairbanks Avenue and Denning Drive, where the city is also trying to obtain more land for turn lanes to ease traffic congestion.

At a candidate forum last week at Westminster Winter Park, a senior living community, Russell appeared to indirectly address the money supporting his campaign.

“I’m nobody’s puppet as some of my opponents might believe,” he said, according to a video posted on YouTube of the event. “I speak for the residents and myself and that alone,” noting that he believed in mindful growth “not like Maitland,” in response to a question from the moderator about how Winter Park should balance neighborhood stability with business growth.

Russell also called out what he sees as “an elitist mindset” among current leaders that he says is “creating stagnation in this city that will inhibit its ability to grow.”

Johnson, who has raised $43,000 and spent $32,000, responded by saying the question sounded like “it was drafted by somebody at the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, whose sole goal is to advance the interests of developers.”

“My job here is to preserve our residential communities,” he said. “We don’t need to pave over this city for commercial development.”

In Johnson’s email to voters over the weekend he attempted to further draw a distinction from his opponent, noting that he was not endorsed by the Chamber.

“I personally consider this a badge of honor,” he wrote. “I oppose the excessive high-rise and high-density developments that the Chamber supports. I support attractive and in-scale development that enhances the charm of Winter Park.”

Stockton Reeves, who has raised $69,000 and spent $42,000, emphasized his long family history in Winter Park and said he believes there is already enough affordable and workforce housing in the city. Most of his campaign funds have come in the form of a loan — worth $53,000 — from himself.

If one of the three candidates does not capture more than 50% of the vote on March 19, then the top two vote getters will head into a runoff to be decided on April 16.

In the mayor’s race, Sheila DeCiccio, the current vice mayor, has raised more than $40,000 and spent $30,000 so far. In recent days she has sent out an email thanking supporters and inviting them to an election night party.

DeCiccio also appeared at a forum at Westminster and, as has become a pattern in her race, she was the only candidate to show up.

Michael Cameron, her opponent, has not appeared at any of the public forums or at either private forum held for seniors at the Westminster and Mayflower communities.

He has raised $5,700 and spent nearly all of that on a political consulting firm.

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Jason Brodeur preempts cities on gas leaf blowers and wants study done

Jason Brodeur preempts cities on gas leaf blowers and wants study done

Jason Brodeur preempts cities on gas leaf blowers and wants study done

The state senator acted in the final days of the legislative session after the Winter Park City Commission caved to his request to put its ban on gas-powered blowers up to voters

March 8, 2024

By Beth Kassab

City Commissioners this week will be asked for final approval to place a question on next year’s ballot asking voters if they want to keep a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers — a policy intended to lower harmful emissions and the nearly universally detested noise from the devices.

Since the first of two needed approvals by the board two weeks ago, the political climate surrounding the debate has intensified with one state senator attempting to make the piece of lawn equipment the latest symbol of the anti-woke crowd.

When commissioners first voted 3-2 on Feb. 28 to put the policy on next year’s ballot (Todd Weaver and Marty Sullivan voted against it), they did so after City Manager Randy Knight told them Sen. Jason Brodeur agreed to stop his effort to preempt cities from banning gas blowers if the city put the question to voters.

But Brodeur moved forward anyway the very next morning.

He added language to the state budget to prohibit cities from amending or enacting such bans until July 2025 and added $100,000 to the state budget from the Air Pollution Control Trust Fund for the state Department of Environmental Protection to study the life cycle of gas-powered blowers versus battery-powered blowers.

Jason Brodeur

City officials have said the language doesn’t apply to Winter Park because its ordinance is already in place (it was passed in 2022, though it hasn’t yet been enacted because commissioners agreed to a delay to allow time for residents and landscape companies to transition to new blowers).

But Brodeur told the Voice in an email exchange that he did intend for his preemption to apply to Winter Park.

“Yes it applies,” Brodeur wrote. “Although they had a suspended ordinance it would require another vote to enact a ban, which will be preempted under the new law, should it be signed.”

He didn’t specify exactly what kind of vote he believed was required.

As it stands today, if the voter referendum does not go forward, the city’s ban is set to take effect in July — just five months from now — with fines delayed until January.

Brodeur said he felt forced to act immediately to prevent that from happening.

“I had hours (in the week before their meeting) to decide if I would ensure it would all be delayed. So I did,” he said in an email to the Voice. “I don’t have the luxury of monthly meetings and hours of discussion. If I didn’t act when I did, I wouldn’t have been able to and the net effect after their 42 months (30 prior months and the remaining 12 before the referendum) will be an extra 2-3 months of delay. Small price to pay for protection of consumers and businesses. Belts and suspenders. July 1, 2025 will be the next time they can enact anything if the voters choose to.”

Mayor Phil Anderson, when told of Brodeur’s interpretation of the state budget language, said he did not want to comment until he had the opportunity to more fully understand it.

Commissioner Todd Weaver said he doesn’t think the new state language impacts Winter Park or other Florida cities that have already enacted a ban on gas leaf blowers, but called the move by Brodeur “disingenuous.”

“For me, it’s a battle in a bigger war, and the war is pushing back against the Legislature from taking away our home rule,” he said. “I feel that Sen. Brodeur misled us because — it won’t affect us — but he’s trying to crowd out other cities that want to do it.”

Brodeur also heard some pushback on the Senate floor last week in the final hours of the state budget debate.

Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat from Hollywood, asked if Brodeur wasn’t exploiting the budget process by pushing new policy  — without any notice or debate — by tying a costly study to the idea.

“How is that not cheating by just throwing some appropriations on it?” Pizzo asked, later emphasizing, “Why do a preemption, which is policy, on a subject not discussed or passed in committee?”

Brodeur said the study was crucial to understand the environmental hazards of lithium ion batteries — the batteries often used in portable electronic devices — in landfills and specifically mentioned fires at landfills caused by batteries. He also said the “effect of not doing this is a tax increase,” because transitioning to electric leaf blowers will cause consumers and landscape companies to spend money.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published in 2021 an analysis of lithium ion battery fires in waste management and recycling.

The report found 245 fires in 64 waste management facilities likely related to lithium metal or lithium ion batteries.

But that problem is from old batteries discarded from a wide range of products such as phones, laptops, wireless headphones, gaming devices and more. Lawn equipment wasn’t even mentioned in the study.

Questions surrounding the proper regulation of and consumer education about battery disposal from the products many people now find essential to daily life are already being asked and debated.

That problem would exist with or without electric leaf blowers.

And data from the EPA also shows that Florida leads the nation when it comes to pollutants in the form of fine particulates from gas lawn equipment like blowers and mowers. Those microscopic droplets are inhaled and can cause serious health problems, according to the agency.

That’s one of the reasons, in addition to the nuisance caused by the noise from blowers, that Winter Park commissioners said they acted in the first place now more than two years ago.

Brodeur required the state study to be done by January because he wants voters to have the information before the March 2025 referendum, if that goes forward.

“Instead of virtue signaling or political preferences dictating policies that should largely be left to a homeowners’ association, I would like to give consumers and business owners the scientific knowledge to know whether enacting a de facto tax increase on anyone who owns a gas powered leaf blower is worth the cost,” Brodeur said. “Because if we don’t have a safety or environmental reason for these ordinances, all liberty is at risk.”

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Winter Park Voice joins Institute for Nonprofit News

Winter Park Voice joins Institute for Nonprofit News

Winter Park Voice joins Institute for Nonprofit News

An important update from the editor

March 5, 2024

Dear Reader,

We have some exciting news to share: The Winter Park Voice is one of the newest members of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a growing association of more than 400 large and small (that’s us!) nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism organizations that are dedicated to public service.

You can read INN’s announcement that includes the Voice here.

Through this association, we hope to learn and share best practices to strengthen our mission of bringing you important news about city government and issues that affect the quality of life in Winter Park.

From big national names like PBS News Hour, Politfact and Propublica to smaller Florida outlets like Oviedo Community News, the Florida Bulldog and the Key Biscayne Independent, INN says, “members of the INN Network tell stories that otherwise would go untold – connecting communities, holding the powerful accountable and strengthening democracy. INN programs help these news organizations develop revenue and business models to support strong reporting, collaborate on editorial and business innovation, share services and advance the diverse leaders who are forging a new future for news.”

Beth Kassab

At the Winter Park Voice, we remain committed to providing you the stories you count on free from paywalls and ads. We operate on a small budget and rely solely on the generous support of our community. Your contributions are tax-deductible and go directly toward publishing news for our community.

It’s now been one year since I started as editor of the Voice and we’ve accomplished a good bit during that time: We officially became a nonprofit, started our Sunday newsletter called the Weekly Roundup and joined INN. But we have a lot more work to do to keep delivering information that would otherwise get lost in this increasingly fragmented news world as the legacy regional newspapers and television stations shrink.

We believe the nonprofit hyperlocal news model is a big piece of the path forward. So, from time to time, you will see us share content that we hope you find relevant from INN partners that we know adhere to our same principles and journalistic standards.

For example, just this week we shared a story from Oviedo Community News about an expansion at Trinity Preparatory School, which straddles the Seminole-Orange border and serves many families in Winter Park.

Collaboration among hyperlocal sites is now every bit as crucial as competition when it comes to serving our common mission of making valuable information accessible to the people who live here.

At the Winter Park Voice, we hope to build on that spirit and do our part to help you feel more informed and plugged in to the place you live, work or like to visit.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or suggestions. A big thank you to all of you for your support and readership, which makes this work possible.

Sincerely,

Beth Kassab

Editor

 

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Trinity Prep wins approval to expand, build science building

Trinity Prep wins approval to expand, build science building

Trinity Prep wins approval to expand, build science building

Seminole County commissioners removed a cap on Trinity Prep student enrollment, but Orange County’s cap still applies

This article was provided in partnership with nonprofit, independent newsroom Oviedo Community News.

March 5, 2024

By Abe Aboraya

The Seminole County Commission unanimously approved an expansion at Trinity Preparatory School last week.

Trinity Prep is on 90 acres of land at the south side of Aloma Avenue just west of where it meets Tuskawilla Road, with the property straddling both Seminole County and Orange County. The Commission gave approval to build a two-story, 30,000-square-foot science building on the forested northeastern end of the school’s property.

Commissioners asked about an enrollment cap at the school. Orange County caps their enrollment at 888 students, and Seminole County wanted to increase the cap to 1,200 students. School officials said they wanted the ability to eventually expand enrollment without having to come back to the county for approvals.

“The cap inhibits us in terms of growth,” Trinity Prep Headmaster Byron Lawson said to commissioners.

He said the school would like to expand, especially with the younger grade levels. “But I also understand where I live, and we want to take this next step with the county to provide a great education for the kids we have now.”

Ultimately, Commissioner Bob Dallari made a motion to approve the school expansion – and completely eliminate the cap.

“I just want to make sure we’re treating the applicant fairly,” Dallari said.

Now, if Trinity Prep wants to increase its enrollment, it would still need to get approval from Orange County.

Additionally, Seminole County Commissioners:

  1. Awarded a $2.9 million contract to Oviedo-based Ovation Construction Company Inc. to build Phase II to replace a wastewater processing plant equipment at Yankee Lake. The facility is off of State Road 46 in Sanford. Separately, the county also gave early approval to a $3.8 million project to recharge the aquifer through a well at Yankee Lake.
  2. Signed off on $13.5 million tax exempt bonds being issued to help pay for construction of affordable housing in Sanford. Riverbend Landings Partners plans to build an 89-unit development off of State Road 46 in Sanford. A key detail: 20% of the units would be for residents earning 50% of the median income of the area.

© 2022 Oviedo Community News. Used with permission. To learn more about the nonprofit newsroom covering Greater Oviedo & Winter Springs and subscribe to free e-news, visit OviedoCommunityNews.org.

 

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Jason Brodeur preempts cities on gas leaf blowers and wants study done

Voters will decide gas leaf blower ban next year

Voters will decide gas leaf blower ban next year

The referendum comes in response to a threat of state preemption by Sen. Jason Brodeur

Feb. 28, 2024

By Beth Kassab

Voters will decide next year whether to keep or toss the city’s ban on gas powered leaf blowers in March 2025 .

Commissioners voted 3-2 to put the question on the ballot in response to Sen. Jason Brodeur’s threat to preempt such a ban in cities across Florida after residents complained that the ban was an example of local government overreach.

Mayor Phil Anderson, Vice Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and Commissioner Kris Cruzada voted in favor of putting the question on the ballot. Commissioners Todd Weaver and Marty Sullivan voted against it.

If voters decide to keep the ban, it will go into effect in the summer of 2025.

The ordinance was unanimously adopted by the commission in January of 2022, but wasn’t set to go into effect until June of this year.

Commissioners said the ordinance is necessary to protect residents from the ear-piercing noise and pollution that results from the gas blowers.

Weaver, who has led the call for the ban, noted that governments intervene when substances or devices are deemed harmful such as asbestos in buildings or the cocaine that was once in the old formula for Coca Cola.

Wednesday night’s action means it will remain on hold until after the vote a year from now.

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After last minute change, commission unanimously approves McCraney building

After last minute change, commission unanimously approves McCraney building

After last minute change, commission unanimously approves McCraney building

The three-story development, which is the first approved in Orange Avenue Overlay, will provide offices and some other use such as a small restaurant or furniture store

Feb. 28, 2024

By Beth Kassab

The City Commission unanimously approved a three-story building of mostly offices on Wednesday at the six-way intersection of Orange and Minnesota avenues and Denning Drive.

Developer Steve McCraney’s project is the first to be approved under the Orange Avenue Overlay, which sets the tone and density for redevelopment along the corridor between Rollins College and U.S. 17-92.

The Commission appeared poised to deny the project with three commissioners — Vice Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and commissioners Todd Weaver and Marty Sullivan — saying they could not vote in favor of it because the building would only contain offices rather than mixed uses as the city code requires.

DeCiccio said she was concerned that allowing the departure from code would set a precedent for other developments that would undermine the vision for the area.

“If we capitulate to you on this issue the entire OAO is out,” she said. “We will be open to endless lawsuits for those who do not get their way.”

About three hours into the discussion, Mayor Phil Anderson called for a break. When the meeting resumed about 20 minutes later, McCraney attorney Becky Wilson offered that at least 25% of the building would include other uses such as a less than 12-seat restaurant, furniture store, personal service provider such as a fitness center or salon.

After that, all five commissioners approved the project.

A number of residents spoke passionately for and against the development.

Anderson said he considered it a “win-win” because McCraney could have built a much larger building on the property. He also noted the previous version of the Orange Avenue Overlay put in place by a different commission five years ago would have yielded a much different result.

“Five years ago, the prior commission had a very different vision,” he said. “The buildings would have been three to four times the size allowed now.”

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