by Beth Kassab | Oct 20, 2025 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, Library, News
How Should City Commission Give Dollars to Nonprofits?
The City Commission will consider this week a new system for awarding nonprofit grants and also discuss if the Parks & Rec department should sell ads and sponsorships
Oct. 20, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Each year the city of Winter Park, like many local governments, doles out a portion of public dollars to help nonprofits like Mead Botanical Gardens, Winter Park Day Nursery, the Winter Park Library and Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts.
But this year, amid economic and budget uncertainty, the City Commission held back $140,000 — and didn’t renew one-time grants to the Winter Park Institute and Men of Integrity — with the intent of formalizing the grant process and determining who is eligible.
This week commissioners are slated to finally have that discussion on Thursday in a workshop.
The conversation comes about amid major cuts to arts and nonprofit funding on the state level and efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to showcase what it deems as “wasteful” local government spending through its “DOGE Team.” The administration is targeting cities and counties with audits and press conferences that it claims are highlighting “waste, fraud and abuse” such as a tree inventory program at the city of Orlando or programs for LGBT youth services in Orange County.
City staff are proposing the creation of a temporary committee each year that would evaluate grant requests and make recommendations for 10 recipients of $10,000 each for “relevant, and meaningful, arts, science, history, social services, and educational experiences of value to the local community.” The committee members would consist of people who already serve on other city advisory boards such as Parks & Recreation and Historic Preservation.
To be eligible, nonprofits must serve Winter Park and can not support a political cause or candidate, can not be connected to a for-profit business and can not already be receiving more than $10,000 in funding from the city, according to the proposal.
The money for the grants comes from .25% of the gross revenue from each of the city’s three major funds — the general fund, electric and water and wastewater.
That generates about $442,000. Some organizations already receive a yearly allotment from that pool. The new policy would address new requests totaling about $100,000.
Those that receive yearly funding, including the Winter Park Library, are:
- Mead Botanical Gardens: $102,000
- Winter Park Historical Association: $97,000
- Winter Park Day Nursery: $42,500
- United Arts: $20,000
- Blue Bamboo: $12,500
- Polasek Museum: $28,000
- Winter Park Library: $2.1 million
The staff report also noted that state government has targeted the ability of Community Redevelopment Agencies to support nonprofits, though so far, there have been no changes to the law. In the future, however, CRAs may be prohibited from making such grants.
Winter Park’s CRA makes the following contributions, according to the 2026 budget:
- Enzian Theater: $10,000
- Heritage Center: $50,000
- Welbourne Day Nursery: $43,000
- Winter Park Playhouse: $49,300
- Depugh Nursing Home: $24,000 (This group recently announced it’s closing)
Ads at Parks?
Commissioners will also discuss on Thursday a plan that city staff estimates could generate $100,000 a year by selling ads and sponsorships at city parks or events.
The effort would mostly focus on the city’s two golf courses, the tennis center and other parks with high foot traffic. Central Park, the highest-profile public green space along Park Avenue, would be off limits to advertisers, according to the proposal.
Some examples of places where the city could sell ads to raise extra funds: interior fencing at tennis courts, golf course scorecards, banners in gymnasiums or fields or t-shirts for adult athletic leagues or summer camps. Sponsorships could be sold for city events such as the Fourth of July celebration, Weekend of the Arts and Dinner on the Avenue or programs such as Movies in the Park or the rotating art installations set to begin next year in Seven Oaks Park.
“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,” reads a memo about the proposal. “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.”
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 16, 2025 | Arts and Culture, News
After Series of October Storms, Chamber to Move Autumn Art Festival to November
The decision came in hopes of better weather closer to the end of hurricane season
Oct. 16, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Beginning next year, the popular Autumn Art Festival hosted by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce in Central Park will move from October to November in order to shift “away from peak hurricane season as well as into cooler fall weather.”
The announcement this week by chamber President and CEO Betsy Gardner came after the conclusion of the festival on Sunday, which featured more than 180 Florida artists who dealt with rain on Saturday and in the days leading up to the start of the show.
Last year Hurricane Milton struck just before the festival and 61 artists were unable to participate because of the storm’s impacts across the state. In 2022, Hurricane Ian dumped flooding rains on the city just weeks before the festival. And in 2016, the show was cancelled because of Hurricane Matthew.
“While the Autumn Art Festival has traditionally been held the second weekend in October, it has in the past been threatened – and even cancelled – by hurricane risks,” Gardner said in a news release. “We’re looking forward to taking the opportunity to move next year’s 53rd Annual Autumn Art Festival to Nov. 14 and 15.”
The chamber has hosted the event in October every year since at least 1995 before October gained a reputation as one of the most active months of Florida’s hurricane season.
It is the only juried festival exclusively featuring Florida artists and was presented this year by Keller Williams Winter Park and supported by Don Mealy Sport Subaru, Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation and Westminster Winter Park, the release said.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 15, 2025 | City Commission, County News, News
Winter Park Loses County Redistricting Fight
The city will remain in District 5 with the eastern rural stretch of Orange County represented by Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad
Oct. 15, 2025
By Gabrielle Russon
Winter Park lost its fight to move into one of the two newly-created county commission districts in a battle that largely pitted the needs of residents in the unincorporated and historically neglected area of Pine Hills against the more affluent city.
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and all four city commissioners attended the hours-long debate on Tuesday and lobbied the Orange County board, but it wasn’t enough to persuade the county leaders.
The County Commission voted 5-2 to adopt a new district map known as “Map 7B”, which leaves Winter Park, a city of about 30,000 residents, in District 5 with the rural eastern section of the county that runs all the way to the Brevard County line. The map breaks off Winter Park’s closest neighbor Maitland (population: 20,000) into the new District 7 with Eatonville (which also borders Winter Park with about 2,300 residents and is known as the nation’s oldest incorporated town founded by formerly enslaved people).
Kelly Martinez Semrad
Commissioners Christine Moore and Mayra Uribe cast the dissenting votes with Mayor Jerry Demings and commissioners Kelly Martinez Semrad, Mike Scott, Nicole Wilson and Maribel Gomez Cordero voting in favor.
DeCiccio, a persistent advocate for Winter Park during months of redistricting meetings, argued the city has little in common with the rural areas. She and the other Winter Park officials wanted to be redistricted into District 7 along with their urban neighbors who often work together on public projects.
But an equally loud group of residents pushed to keep the status quo and argued the more affluent Winter Park would dominate the bigger, predominately Black and Hispanic community of unincorporated Pine Hills, which will also be part of District 7.
“Combining these communities under Map-1A would dilute the voting strength of Pine Hills residents and undermine their ability to elect candidates to understand and advocate for their needs,” said Delmarie Alicea, who lives in unincorporated Orange County and is a voting rights attorney for LatinoJustice PRLDEF.
Most people who emailed Martinez Semrad, who represents District 5, supported keeping Winter Park in her district, according to a Winter Park Voice public records request.
The commissioner received more than 85 signed emails with messages that had identical templates and said they were written “on behalf of Orange County’s young people.”
“The differences between Map 1 and Map 7 largely center around the preferences of affluent communities like Winter Park and Maitland versus the equitable representation of all communities across Orange County,” their emails said.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio is sworn in on April 10, 2024 alongside her husband and daughter.
The redistricting debate comes after voters approved a referendum last year to increase the number of districts from six to eight, opening up two new elected seats on the board that pay more than $120,000 a year. The Orange County mayor serves as the ninth seat and is elected countywide.
More than 70 people signed up to speak at Tuesday’s meeting, which ran more than two hours, before the final vote.
Conceding she was in the “hot seat” was Martinez Semrad, who ultimately voted in support of keeping Winter Park in her district instead of moving it to District 7.
Martinez Semrad, who lives in east Orange County, won in 2024 with the support of Winter Park voters. As an underdog, she beat the better-funded former Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary.
Even Winter Park City Commissioner Kris Cruzada acknowledged Tuesday she was in a tough position to decide if Winter Park should get cut from her district.
“Winter Park and Maitland want Map-1A. East Orange County wants Map-7B. Our district commissioner has to choose between supporting the 48,000 in Maitland and Winter Park or supporting the greater number of east Orange County where she lives,” Cruzada said during public comment. “I don’t envy the decision.”
Earlier this summer, Martinez Semrad said she supported Winter Park remaining in her district. After receiving an overwhelming response from the public, she later backtracked and said last month she was undecided.
She outlined her decision-making out loud before the vote Tuesday.
“There’s no map regardless of what District 5 picks that satisfies every community in District 5,” she said. “So being in a hot seat, I’m going to depend on what I think is one of my strengths and that is to let the data tell the story.”
Looking back at the 37-year history, the District 5 Commissioner has been represented by someone from Maitland or Winter Park 76% of the time. The only exceptions were Commissioner Emily Bonilla and then herself, Martinez Semrad said.
So she argued Winter Park has received fair representation on the county board.
Martinez Semrad said keeping Winter Park in District 5 made sense because the population is geographically balanced to where most people live centrally and the Econlockhatchee River serves as a natural boundary. District 5 also maintains an education corridor since the University of Central Florida, Rollins College and Full Sail University were all grouped together.
She also took issue with Winter Park’s claims it has nothing in common with the rural east. She argued the homeownership rates, property values and people’s reliance on cars for transportation “are similarities there,” she said.
Her desire to keep Winter Park in District 5 was also framed around making sure districts balance out the unincorporated areas since they are more dependent on the county for fire, police and other infrastructure needs than the cities are.
Martinez Semrad added, “It makes me a little sad that tonight we talk about who we want to be with and who we don’t want to be with because, after all, we are all Orange County citizens.”
Robert Whatley, president of the Christmas Civic Association, wrote his group supported keeping the status quo since it “gave us the best chance of maintaining our rural lifestyle going into the future.”
But Winter Park resident Phil Erwin wrote District 5 just didn’t make sense and Winter Park needed new representation.
“As a Winter Park resident, I have absolutely no knowledge of most of the area that District 5 encompasses,” Erwin wrote. “I rarely travel east of 436 and only drive through the eastern part of the district on my way to the coast. It is beyond my wildest imagination why the community I live in is bundled with such a vast territory of complete unfamiliarity.”
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 14, 2025 | City Commission, News
City's Share of 'Fix 426' will be $392,000
Winter Park will spend the money to slow traffic and improve pedestrian safety along the busy stretch of the state road that connects Winter Park to Oviedo
Oct. 14, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park taxpayers will spend about $392,000 for the city’s share of long-awaited pedestrian and traffic improvements to the 1.7-mile curvy stretch of S.R. 426 from Park Avenue to Lakemont Avenue that winds between Lake Osceola on the north and lakes Virginia, Mizell and Sylvan on the south.
The project started more than three years ago with pleas from residents to “Fix 426,” a main connector from Winter Park to Oviedo. State data shows the busy stretch of S.R. 426 averages six car crashes per month and more than 4,000 speed violations daily.
The City Commission last week unanimously approved spending $391,675 for its share of a larger road resurfacing project led by the Florida Department of Transportation, which is responsible for maintaining the state road.
Winter Park’s share is now far lower than an earlier estimate of nearly $2 million before the project was scaled down considerably and more negotiations took place, said Charles Ramdatt, Winter Park’s public works and transportation director.
“It’s a better deal than we had before,” he told commissioners.
The work will include adding raised crosswalks to slow traffic, upgraded traffic signals, pedestrian hybrid beacons or flashing signals that stop traffic for people to cross on foot and reconstruction of a gravity wall between Fletcher Place and Sylvan Drive.
The wall, which keeps the soil from a raised lot from spilling into the sidewalk and roadway, was the subject of lengthy discussions between the city, state and property owner as no one was clear on who originally constructed the wall.
The wall, which sits on FDOT’s right-of-way, was crumbling and FDOT constructed a temporary replacement. Ultimately, FDOT conceded it may have built the original and agreed to maintain the new wall going forward, Ramdatt said.
“I think this is going to be great,” said Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, though she conceded not everyone will be happy about the “speed bumps” or raised crosswalks. “It’s going to be great for traffic and pedestrians.”
No one from the public spoke on the matter before the vote, though there were multiple community meetings on the project in recent years.
The city made an initial financial commitment of $1.8 million in 2023, but the project has since been scaled back.
Due to maintenance challenges and complications, brick intersections, landscaped medians and bus stop pavement markings are no longer part of the plans.
An FDOT spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for the total cost of the project or when construction is slated to begin and end.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 9, 2025 | City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
P&Z Board Approves Racquet Club Expansion with Multiple Conditions
The plans must still win approval from the City Commission
Oct. 9, 2025
By Beth Kassab
The Winter Park Racquet Club made it over the first hurdle this week toward an expansion in the neighborhood known as “the Vias,” one of the city’s poshest enclaves between Lake Maitland and Temple Drive.
In a 5-1 vote, the Planning & Zoning Board approved plans with three new conditions to tear down the white-columned two-story home at 2111 Via Tuscany and allow the private club to build a larger one-story building to house a fitness center, locker rooms, tennis shop and offices.
A view of the club’s pickle ball courts from Via Tuscany.
A crowd of neighbors — some who have planted red signs that say “Stop WPRC Commercial Expansion in our Neighborhood” in their front yards — attended to meeting to speak against the project with some comparing the tenor of the lights and activity at the club to a “Walmart” or “McDonald’s.”
Chairman Jason Johnson was the lone dissenting vote. Vashon Sarkisian, Charles Steinberg, David Bornstein, Alex Stringfellow and Michael Dick voted in favor. Bill Segal was absent.
Johnson said the changes appear as “commercial creep” in a residential area and said the term “sprawling campus” is “probably not an inaccurate description of what has happened with the club” that dates back to 1953.
“Is that to be expected?” Johnson asked. “Maybe, I guess? But this does sit in the middle of a residential neighborhood and at some point you’ve got to say I think it’s enough.”
A rendering shows what the new Winter Park Racquet Club building will look like at 2011 Via Tuscany. The white home pictured above will be torn down.
The project and conditions must ultimately be approved by the City Commission.
Planning & Zoning members added the following conditions:
- The circular driveway in front of the new building will be limited to 12-feet wide at the entry and exit points and 14 feet in the interior. That’s a reduction from the 20-foot driveway proposed by the club after neighbors and board members expressed concern the space would essentially serve as a parking lot. The club’s original proposal called for striped parking in front of the new building, but it revised those plans after hearing concerns last month.
- The club must conduct a photometric study or an analysis of the lights emitted by the club, including pickleball and tennis courts, to make sure it’s compliant and does not interfere with nearby homes.
- Play on the pickleball courts, which sit closest to Via Tuscany, must end at 8 p.m. instead of the current 9 p.m. cutoff.
City staff also called for additional conditions such as the driveway access on Via Tuscany be an entrance-only; the club can not increase its membership; hours of operation for the new building will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the new building; no new lighting can be added in the grass parking lot and the new paved section must use “low-scale bollard fixtures rather than traditional pole-mounted lights;” all non-safety required lights be off by 10 p.m. daily and the removal of two oak trees result in double the typical compensation.
The club’s general manager did not immediately return a call for comment on the new conditions.
Rob Carter, the club’s volunteer president, said at the meeting that the club serves mostly Winter Park families, many who live in the neighborhood and walk or bike there. The home that will be torn down, he said, is outdated and will be replaced with a “safer one” that is compatible with the neighborhood and will not increase the intensity of the club’s operations.
“I do take some offense to the idea that we’re not trying to be a good neighbor,” he told the board, emphasizing that he incorporated residents’ feedback into the latest proposal and has offered to meet with people who live nearby and have concerns.
Demolition on Isle of Sicily
The P&Z board also approved plans by owners Kamran and Mina Khosravani for a new 10,400-square-foot home at 3 Isle of Sicily, meaning the current house originally built by famed local architect James Gamble Rogers II will be torn down.
The original home known as Four Winds dates to 1930 and sat at just 1,800-square-foot in the French provincial style. But the home had been altered significantly over the years and Jack Rogers, an architect and son of Gamble Rogers, said the damage to its integrity and history had been done long ago.
A rendering shows the proposed new home at 3 Isle of Sicily.
The project was approved unanimously by the board with little discussion and no public comment.
Over the years the number of Gambles Rogers homes in Winter Park has dwindled from about 50 to 15 or 20, Rogers said.
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by Beth Kassab | Oct 7, 2025 | City Commission, Historic Preservation, News, Zoning and Development
Upcoming Demolitions: At Racquet Club, a Gamble Rogers House and Park Ave Apartments
Two city advisory boards will consider the three projects this week
Oct. 7, 2025
By Beth Kassab
One of Winter Park’s most exclusive hang-outs wants permission to demolish a 5,400-square-foot two-story building at the front of its property and build a larger one-story structure to house a fitness center, locker rooms, tennis shop and offices.
The Planning & Zoning Board will consider the proposal Tuesday evening by the Winter Park Racquet Club, a private club that dates back to the early 1950s on Lake Maitland that offers swimming, dining, pickleball and tennis with initiation fees that run upwards of $22,500, according to one document that advertised a job posting there.
The changes at 2111 Via Tuscany have drawn criticism from neighbors on the residential street who say they are worried about commercial-like development, traffic and noise. As a result, the proposal has gone through revisions since the concept was tabled at the Sept. 2 Planning & Zoning Board meeting.
“The style will add cohesion to the rest of the club buildings, including the original clubhouse which was designed by [local architect James] Gamble Rogers,” read a description submitted by the club. “It will also mimic the aesthetics of neighboring homes, and the intent is for people driving by to assume that it is a residence that has been here all along.”
Residents expressed concerns about the disruptions to be caused by construction, light pollution, parking and other issues, according the minutes of a neighborhood meeting.
“I am extremely concerned that this project continues to seek to convert this house into a commercial multi-use facility,” Marci Greenberg, who lives across the street, wrote to the city, one of a number of emails received about the project. “With the new plans, there will still be a significant increase in traffic, parking in front of the building (as the new circular drive is 20 ft wide which is as wide as Via Tuscany) and an increase in noise. The current house, as such, contributes to the character and ambiance of the neighborhood. The proposed building looks commercial and detracts from our residential neighborhood.”
A sign in the neighborhood near the Racquet Club opposes changes there.
The club manager did not return a call for comment, but documents say the club is on a “membership waitlist” and is not accepting new members, meaning the project is not intended to allow any growth or expansion of services.
In response to concerns, the club has removed from the plans new parking that was to be added in front of the building and replaced it with a circular driveway.
City staff is also requesting other conditions such as the hours of operation remain the same, no new lighting be added and most exterior lights (other than for safety purposes) be turned off by 10 p.m.
Noise issues are also being addressed, according to the staff report.
“[The club] is proposing a six-foot acoustic sound barrier behind the eight-foot podocarpus hedge in front along Via Tuscany to screen the parking and buffer the noise concerns raised by the neighborhood,” it said. “This sound barrier will be the same barrier used to buffer the pickleball courts that is designed to reduce noise levels in outdoor settings and is made of a dense, soundproofing composite, and unlike a solid and rigid concrete wall, it both blocks and absorbs sounds more effectively.”
Another Gamble Rogers House Likely Gone
Not far from the Racquet Club is a secluded peninsula that stretches into Lake Maitland from its eastern shore called the Isle of Sicily — one of the city’s richest streets. James Gamble Rogers II, who also designed the racquet club, constructed the first home on the isle about 1930, an 1,800-square-foot French provincial home known as Four Winds that the famed architect lived in with his family until 1949.
Now the house at 3 Isle of Sicily is likely to be torn down as part of a plan to builder a larger home on the property.
A view of the home at 3 Isle of Sicily today as recorded by the Orange County Property Appraiser.
Over the years, the house was renovated extensively and now sits at more than 7,000-square feet.
Owners Kamran and Mina Khosravani, who acquired the property in 2011, are looking to build a new home that will top 10,400 square feet.
The home is not on the city’s historic register so the owners don’t need permission to demolish it, but will ask the P&Z Board today for approval of the new lakefront construction.
A rendering shows proposed new construction at 3 Isle of Sicily.
Jack Rogers, architect and son of Gamble Rogers, said he’s sorry to see the house come down, but it hasn’t looked like the original in decades.
“Unfortunately, the damage was done 50 or more years ago,” Rogers said. “The original house is completely gone.”
His father, who is also known for the Florida State Supreme Court Building in Tallahassee and the Olin Library on the Rollins College Campus, built about 50 houses in Winter Park, he said. His papers and plans are preserved at the Winter Park Library.
“There’s probably 15 or 20 left and eight or 10 are absolutely precious and we seem to be losing them at the rate of one or two a year,” Rogers said. “We still have several wonderful examples.”
Park Ave Apartments Face Demo for Townhomes and Synagogue
The apartment buildings dating back to 1922 known as El Cortez could be demolished to make way for new townhomes and a new synagogue if the Historic Preservation Board approves a proposal up for consideration on Wednesday.
The board tabled the request at its Sept. 10 meeting in order to see if the developer could save one of the three buildings at 210 E. Morse Blvd. that are part of the Interlachen Avenue Historic District. The property is also the last R-4 zoned land just off Park Avenue that has yet to be redeveloped.
The El Cortez Apartments along Morse Boulevard.
The city discourages demolition of so-called “contributing structures” to historic districts such as El Cortez, but does approve knock-downs when preservation isn’t feasible.
The property owner and applicant for the project, a company called El Cortez LTD and managed by AGPM founder Scott Zimmerman, said the buildings represent a “frame vernacular style,” but have been significantly altered over time with no original exterior materials or features remaining.
The new development would create townhomes on Morse and a synagogue along Knowles Avenue. Staff received 32 letters in support of the project and one against, according to documents related to the meeting.
In the 1920s the building were constructed as upscale apartments amid growing demand for more housing in downtown Winter Park and near Rollins College. Over the years, a number of notable people lived there, according to National Register of Historic Places documents, such as “physician Benjamin Hart; Christopher Honaas, director of the Rollins College Conservatory of Music; Flora Magoun, secretary to the Conservatory; Margaret Windau, district director of the Florida Welfare Board; Helen Drinker, proprietress of a women’s fashion shop on Park Avenue North; and William Stein, a Romance Languages professor at Rollins College of Jewish descent who had recently immigrated from Austria to avoid Nazi persecution.”
Rogers said his dad told him he also stayed at El Cortez while Windsong, the Isle of Sicily property also likely set for demolition, was being constructed.
City staff is recommending approval of the project with the following conditions: A historic marker be placed there to commemorate the historical significance of the property and that the demolition not occur until the owner has a building permit from the city to ensure development plans don’t change between the time of the tear-down and new construction.
New Historic Survey Considered
The Historic Preservation Board will also on Wednesday consider a contract with Orlando-based KMF Architects for $75,000 to survey the city’s historic assets.
The proposal calls for updating the 2001 and 2013 surveys and will include an evaluation of Mid-Century Modern architecture (1950s-1970s), a era that hasn’t previously been surveyed citywide.
The work on Mid-Century Modern work will include a focus on Orwin Manor “to support the city’s consideration of a potential historic district designation.”
Four historic districts already exist in Winter Park — Downtown, College Quarter, Virginia Heights East and Interlachen Avenue — and those will be evaluated to determine if any non-contributing buildings now meet criteria for contributing status.
The survey will update records and remove properties on previous surveys that have since been demolished to produce a detailed report with photos that is both “informative and user-friendly,” according to the architects’ proposal.
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