by Beth Kassab | May 4, 2024 | City Commission, Library, News
Will city expand parking at Library & Events Center?
Discussion expected at Wednesday’s meeting as city also considers lease to allow the Alfond Inn to use the old library as a valet lot
May 4, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Finding a parking spot at the Winter Park Library & Events Center is a growing challenge and commissioners this week will consider options to add new spaces while maintaining amenities at MLK Park, which serves as the backdrop to the buildings.
Staff is recommending a plan known as “Option B,” which would add 49 new parking spaces, but require the demolition of a 60-year-old rental space called Lake Hall Island near the corner of Harper Street and New England Avenue on the south side of the park.
It’s possible the facility could be preserved, but that would mean the park would lose its croquet court, which has a small, but loyal following, according to a report by city staff. Moving the croquet court elsewhere would be costly, according to the memorandum.
The cost of the staff recommendation to demolish Lake Hall Island and add additional parking spaces is estimated at about $618,000.
At least three other options exist ranging from just 14 new spaces at about $209,000 to building a new parking garage to add more than 200 new spaces at a cost of $8 million.
Meanwhile, the city is looking to formalize an arrangement that would allow the adjacent Alfond Inn to use the parking lot at the old and now vacant library building as valet spaces.
Commissioners will consider leasing the 69 spaces to Rollins College, which operates the Alfond, for $45 each per month. The total rent would be about $3,000 each month.
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by Beth Kassab | May 4, 2024 | City Commission, News, Uncategorized
Other Florida cities issues dozens of citations for gas leaf blowers
While Winter Park will put its ordinance banning the devices to a voter referendum, some cities are enforcing rules against the noisemakers
May 4, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Bill Quinsey hears more about leaf blowers than just about anyone else in Florida, where the deafening gas-powered devices turned into a political rallying cry during the latest session of the state Legislature.
Quinsey, the code compliance manager in Naples, oversees a team that has issued 74 citations and 230 written warnings to people using the banned devices in the southwest coastal town of about 20,000 people.
“Leaf blowers are probably our No. 1 complaint [from residents] now that it’s on the books,” Quinsey said. “Some landscapers adopted it pretty quickly and others were struggling and had to get multiple citations.”
The noise, he said, is at the root of the complaints and also what drove the city to pass an ordinance that took effect in 2021 against the gas-powered machines as well as electric versions that exceed 65 decibels.
The city suspended the ordinance for about eight months during cleanup efforts after Hurricane Ian, he said, but began enforcement again about a year ago.
Education, including signs and emails directly to landscape companies, are a big part of the effort.
“We’re up to 300 unique landscapers we’ve contacted,” he said. “As soon as we get everybody on board, we get new people” who move businesses in to Naples.
Naples, in conservative Collier County where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than two to one, is just one of the Florida cities already enforcing such an ordinance while a state senator turned Winter Park’s version of a ban into the latest poster child against “government overreach.”
The Winter Park City Commission voted last month to let voters decide next year whether its ban — originally passed in 2022 but not yet enforced — will stay on the books.
Naples isn’t alone.
The town of Palm Beach, known as home to the estate of former President Donald Trump, also prohibits gas leaf blowers, along with South Miami, Key Biscayne, Pinecrest and Miami Beach among others.
Since Feb. 1, 2022, Miami Beach, for example, has conducted 675 service calls related to leaf blowers, including complaints and proactive inspections. During that time, the city issued 21 written warnings and 56 violations.
“We’ve seen many benefits since transitioning away from gas-powered leaf blowers, including less noise and no longer needing to utilize gas and oil,” said Melissa Berthier, spokeswoman for the city of about 80,000.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 27, 2024 | City Commission, News, Uncategorized
Craig Russell sworn in and voters will decide next year on gas leaf blower ban
The newest commissioner took his seat just as one of the city’s most controversial issues came up for a vote
April 25, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Voters will decide next year whether Winter Park will keep its ban on gas-powered leaf blowers after two tense and divided votes Wednesday that included new Commissioner Craig Russell for the first time.
The debate highlighted the power of the mayor’s role on the board — steering the debate and casting the final vote — with new Mayor Sheila DeCiccio twice breaking a 2-2 tie.
She ultimately sided with allowing voters to have a say about the ban on the March 2025 ballot, when the seats belonging to commissioners Todd Weaver and Kris Cruzada will also be up for election.
Russell and Cruzada cast votes in favor of the referendum while Weaver and Sullivan voted against it.
“At the end of the day, there was such division,” DeCiccio said after the meeting. “After listening to residents on both sides, the voters have to make this decision. Nobody wanted the referendum … the landscapers didn’t want it, but this way — one way or the other — it’s decided.”
From left to right: Marty Sullivan, Craig Russell, Sheila DeCiccio, Kris Cruzada and Todd Weaver.
Just before the vote, Russell attempted to table the matter and order city staff to draw up a new ordinance that would repeal the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers that the City Commission passed unanimously in 2022.
“I’m not going to tell a police officer what kind of gun to buy or a firefighter what kind of hose to buy,” Russell said, noting that he saw it as “obvious” that residents do not want the ban.
Frank Hamner, the attorney for the Holler family, which were among Russell’s biggest campaign donors, watched the meeting closely from the audience and stood up twice to speak in support of motions Russell attempted to make.
“How many man hours have you wasted on this thing?” Hamner, who until last week wasn’t a regular attendee at commission meetings, asked the board about the leaf blower discussion. “If you can’t, as a government, accept oversight or criticism you’re in the wrong business.”
Russell’s motion lost in a 3-2 vote with only Cruzada supporting his effort.
Weaver, who earlier in the meeting was elected as the new vice mayor and was on the commission when the ban was first passed in 2022, explained that the rule came about because of noise, health and safety concerns.
Leaf blowers, like many gas-powered machines, emit known carcinogens. They are also the loudest lawn equipment used on a daily basis.
“They aren’t ‘suspected’ to be cancer-causing, they are cancer-causing,” Weaver said, showing slides from several national studies.
The city’s ban was set to take effect in June, 30 months after it was originally passed, to give landscape companies and residents time to transition to electric models.
But in January the landscape companies organized and complained that they hadn’t had enough time and that the transition was too expensive and detrimental to their small businesses.
“I understand these electric leaf blowers are going to have to be purchased,” Weaver said. “But I don’t think it’s at all fair for the rest of us to subsidize extremely expensive health care when there’s something we can do about it.”
Sen. Jason Brodeur, who represents Winter Park, but calls Seminole County home, seized on the issue as an example of local government overreach even though a number of Florida cities already have similar bans.
Brodeur took up the landscape companies’ cause and threatened to pass a state law to prohibit such a ban if Winter Park did not place the issue on next year’s ballot for voters to decide, according to City Manager Randy Knight, who negotiated the arrangement with him.
Despite that agreement Brodeur inserted language into the state budget, which still hasn’t been signed by the governor, that prohibits cities from enacting or amending gas-powered leaf blower ordinances until next year after the results of a $100,000 study he ordered.
Weaver said he objected to state dollars going toward a study that he considered redundant after a number of other studies have already been done on the topic.
Cruzada defended the new study saying new data is needed. He also noted that the commission’s ordinance came about near the height of the pandemic when more people were working from home and complaining of the constant noise from leaf blowers and suggested those complaints have mostly passed.
Voters will now get to settle the debate on the March 11, 2025 ballot.
Moments after the leaf blower discussion, Russell asserted his new influence once again during the hearing of an ordinance to clean up language regarding how mixed-uses are defined within the Orange Avenue Overlay.
He pointed out where the word “commercial” was stricken and said, “I just think it’s a mistake,” because the word commercial was repeated again later.
Hamner took the microphone for a second time to support Russell’s comment.
“I fear if you take ‘commercial’ out where it’s stricken, it’s going to lack clarity going forward,” he said.
The planning director and DeCiccio explained that the change was to add more specific language about how “commercial” is defined so that developers understand what “mixed-use” means.
Craig Russell shares a moment with his family just after taking the oath of office.
When the McCraney building was up for debate a few months ago it was the first new development to be approved under the new Orange Avenue Overlay rules and there was discussion about whether two different types of offices could constitute “mixed-use,” such as a bank without tellers and a real estate office.
Russell then moved to amend the language with a suggestion from the planning director to add even more specificity, which was approved by the rest of the commission.
Earlier in the meeting he officially took the oath of office with his family by his side after winning the run-off against Jason Johnson by 34 votes.
“I’m just so proud to get to meet and work with so many talented people,” he said at the end of the meeting, noting that he would like to create a youth advisory board or find other ways to incorporate new voices into city government. ” On the record, I have to thank my family — the army I have, my kids and my wife — I wouldn’t be here without them.”
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 13, 2024 | City Commission, News, Orange Avenue Overlay, Uncategorized, Zoning and Development
New Mayor Sheila DeCiccio sworn-in as development projects stack up
The city is busier than ever with major projects in the works
April 12, 2024
By Beth Kassab
As Mayor Sheila DeCiccio was sworn in as Winter Park’s first woman mayor last week, the number of significant commercial projects in the works continued to grow.
While the pro-development versus anti-development debate has shaped much of the discourse during this election cycle, particularly in the heated contest for City Commission Seat 2 that will be decided on Tuesday, the number of projects in the pipeline now may be overlooked.
Planning Director Jeff Briggs said even more plans are in the beginning stages, though official applications haven’t been filed yet.
DeCiccio and commissioners voted Wednesday to form a new committee to set design standards and give developers more specifics on what types of architecture and design the city is looking for through the business corridors, including the Orange Avenue Overlay.
Here’s a look at what’s on the horizon:
Winter Park Playhouse
Winter Park Playhouse. This came up at DeCiccio’s first meeting as mayor, reviving a conversation that started last year about how to keep the local theater in the city as its landlord put the building up for sale. City Manager Randy Knight said Wednesday that the city will ask for Tourist Development Tax money to purchase and renovate the building on Orange Avenue and allow the playhouse to operate there. He said the city is looking for a grant in the range of about $8 million with about $4 million going toward the purchase.
Rollins Faculty Housing. The liberal arts college is looking for a way to provide attainable housing to newer faculty who can’t afford home prices in Winter Park. The project on Welbourne and Virginia avenues was tabled earlier this year and is now coming back before the commission with some major changes. The new proposal is reduced to 33 apartments and no longer fronts New England Avenue, which means a retail component to the project no longer exists. The project, which was initially opposed by residents in a neighboring condominium building, is set to go back before the Planning & Zoning Board and then the City Commission in May.
Rollins Residential Village
Rollins Residence Hall. Unlike the above faculty apartments, this new 300-bed dormitory will be on the Rollins campus. Commissioners approved the project in January. It will replace the 80-bed Holt Hall and a portion of the Tennis Center. The building will be about 140,000-square feet and is intended to provide more opportunity for students to live on campus. Rollins officials say the college will continue to have the same number of undergraduates.
Storyville Coffee rendering
Storyville Coffee. This project is slated to come before the City Commission on April 24, which will be the first meeting with both the new mayor and a newly elected Seat 2 commissioner. The proposal calls for a 3-story, 11,000-square-foot building at 111 S. Knowles Avenue across Morse Boulevard from First United Methodist Church. The first floor will be used as a coffee shop and retail and the second floor will contain office space. The third floor will house a single residence.
Winter Park Commons. In December, commissioners approved 53-unit project, including 15 single-family homes and 38 townhomes, in west Winter Park near Winter Park Village. The project will replace the now vacant Patmos Chapel Seventh Day Adventist Church on xxx. The project underwent extensive revisions with single-family homes now along the perimeter after residents complained the multi-story complex did not meld with the neighborhood. The historically Black area has undergone extensive redevelopment during the last two decades and a group of residents known as West Winter Park Neighbors is working to preserve what’s left.
McCraney building.
McCraney office building. Commissioners unanimously approved the three-story building in February, the first new build within the Orange Avenue Overlay. The project will stand at the six-way intersection of Orange and Minnesota avenues and Denning Drive. Developer Steve McCraney’s concept was approved after he agreed for 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 to comply with the mixed-use requirements in the code. “If we capitulate to you on this issue the entire OAO is out,” Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said at the time. “We will be open to endless lawsuits for those who do not get their way.”
More on the way in the OAO. Architecture firm Schenkel Schultz is planning to move its corporate headquarters from downtown Orlando to Winter Park later this year. The move, expected as early as the fall, would involve renovating the single-story building at 834 North Orange Avenue, across from the Rollins College baseball stadium. The 12,000-square-foot open layout would accommodate the 65 employees who now work in the firm’s office near Lake Eola. In addition, city officials have said they expect Orlando Health to renovate the existing Jewett Orthopedic office also along Orange Avenue.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 12, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News
Chasm in development support widens as money flows into Seat 2 run-off
The debate over how Winter Park will look in the future continues to dominate the race that will be decided on Tuesday
April 12, 2024
By Beth Kassab
The attacks continued in the final days of the run-off for Seat 2 on the City Commission with Craig Russell and Jason Johnson each trying to convince voters they would would be the best defender of Winter Park’s unique character.
The election is Tuesday.
Russell accused Johnson on Thursday of failing to defend the city’s code through his role as chairman of the Board of Adjustments, which considers requests for variances from property owners who are seeking to build a larger pergola than typically allowed or who want a smaller setback from the edge for their land.
Craig Russell, a football and wrestling coach at Winter Park High School, is running for City Commission Seat 2.
“Make no mistake, Craig Russell is the only candidate we can trust to protect Winter Park’s character,” the note to voters stated. “While on the Board of Adjustment the other candidate in this race, Jason Johnson, voted for zoning exceptions over 90% of the time. This record does not back up his talk about preserving our charm!”
Johnson said his votes on the Board of Adjustments “align exactly with my public comments on variances.”
“I recognize that the variance code exists for a good reason,” he said. “I know that not every eventuality is contemplated by the land development code, so variances are sometimes appropriate … But too many commercial developers abuse the process and view the variance and conditional use ordinances as their ‘grab bag.’ Those interests know I will not allow that, so they are throwing a lot of money behind my opponent in the hopes of having a friendly vote on the City Commission.”
Russell’s campaign is largely funded by people who own large commercial properties or have other development interests. The most recent campaign finance report shows Russell collected $5,000 from companies associated with the Holler family or their attorney. Holler companies already contributed $8,000 in the round of fundraising leading up to the March 19 election, which led to the run-off between Russell and Johnson.
Jason Johnson, an attorney and candidate for Winter Park Commission Seat 2.
Russell has raised more than $17,000 for the run-off, according to the most recent report available, bringing his total for the entire election cycle to more than $80,000.
One of the Holler’s companies also contributed another $3,000 in the most recent report from Winter PAC, the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce’s political action committee that has raised $25,000 in support of Russell.
Dan Bellows, known for redevelopment projects on the historically Black west side and for the mixed-use development Ravaudage at Lee Road and U.S. 17-92, contributed $1,000 and his two children contributed another $200.
A recent mailer sent by Russell to voters’ homes said he opposes “irresponsible, high-density overdevelopment.” It also said he would “defend property rights from government overreach.”
Russell, who also announced an endorsement from the Orlando Regional Realtors Association, did not respond to messages from the Voice seeking comment.
“Craig Russell knows that Winter Park is growing, and we need to be focusing on fiscal responsibility for the future and promoting residents-first smart growth,” said the Realtors’ endorsement.
Johnson raised nearly $14,000 for the run-off, bringing his total to slightly higher than $50,000.
His recent contributors included former mayors Phil Anderson and David Strong, who each gave $1,000, and have preached a more scaled back approach to new development. Developer Alan Ginsburg, also gave $1,000, and Belle Isle Mayor Nicholas Fouraker, who operates and commercial and residential real estate brokerage, wrote the maximum check as well.
Johnson also touted endorsements in recent days, including a blurb from Rick Frazee, operator of the former Mt. Vernon Inn.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” the message read. “The Carlisle, Combank, the Langford Hotel ‘pyramid’ addition were ‘history lessons’ that cost the city millions of dollars to avert. Jason Johnson will maintain Winter Park’s quality of life and proper scale.”
More than 6,500 voters or about 30% turned out in the March 19 election and Russell led the pack by 540 votes. Turnout often decreases for run-offs, though Winter Parkers bucked that trend the last time the city saw a run-off for a commission seat in 2019, when more than 700 additional votes were cast.
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by Beth Kassab | Apr 6, 2024 | City Commission, Election, News, Uncategorized
Phil Anderson leaves mayor's job with legacy of shaping city's future
The mayor, who will hand off the title this week to Sheila DeCiccio, took a few minutes recently to reflect on his time in office
April 5, 2024
By Beth Kassab
Phil Anderson came into office in the spring of 2021 as the tumult of a global pandemic took the lives of thousands of Orange County residents and upended commerce from New York’s Wall Street to Winter Park’s Park Avenue.
For months at the start of his term, the City Commission was still meeting via video. Shops and restaurants struggled to bring back customers. And uncertainty hung over the markets that affect the city’s key streams of tax revenue such as real estate and new development.
Now three years later, as Anderson prepares to turn over the gavel on Wednesday to new Mayor Sheila DeCiccio, the city just hosted the 65th Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival packed with hundreds of thousands of people and at least four new commercial development projects are in the works.
“When you look at where we were coming out of COVID, it’s remarkable,” Anderson said. “We finished three years later with a lot of initiatives started or in progress.”
Anderson said millions of dollars in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds played a major role in smoothing the city’s recovery.
But then, about halfway into Anderson’s term, the city confronted another historical challenge when Hurricane Ian dumped more than a dozen inches of rain on the region and caused record flooding in Winter Park and beyond.
As a result, the city is now taking the first steps toward drainage projects that DeCiccio has highlighted as a major priority.
Anderson’s term also saw the purchase of the 18-hole Winter Park Pines Golf Course, which this year turned a small profit, according to financial documents; the opening of a more than $40 million Library & Events Center and the start of construction on Seven Oaks Park.
He also led some policy initiatives such as a long-term effort toward renewable energy at the city-owned electric utility, voter approval of charter amendments that require a supermajority on the commission for certain zoning changes and a plan to expand the Community Redevelopment Agency.
“I ran to really make life better and to keep the charm of our neighborhoods and the downtown in tact,” said Anderson, a civil engineer whose career eventually lead him into finance and development. “And I think we did that.”
Mayor Phil Anderson presents Mary Daniels with the Mayor’s Founders Award at the 2024 State of the City Address.
The most recent financial reports show the reserve fund at more than $20.5 million.
While the day-to-day operations are led by City Manager Randy Knight, the mayor plays a large role in setting both the agenda and the tone of the public meetings.
At his final meeting in March, Anderson reflected on his time on the dais and the sometimes contentious comments from residents who would show up to speak for or against policies or projects.
“I want to thank everyone who has stepped up to the mic to speak,” he said. “We may not always agree, but this is what America’s about.”
Listening to those comments, he said, was one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
For example, residents of west Winter Park played a significant role in changes to a proposed rental development known as Winter Park Commons. The project, which will replace a now vacant church in the historically black neighborhood, will have more single-family homes and fewer townhomes as a result of people showing up and speaking out at the meetings.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “It does make a difference. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it makes a difference, but over the long run it does.”
Anderson made a habit during meetings of summarizing in real time what he was hearing from fellow commissioners or speakers as a way of building consensus and and steering the debate. And he rarely lost sight of the fact that not everyone in the commission chambers understood the history or nuances of every policy measure, often pausing to provide context or demystify the discussion for everyday residents who stopped in — in person or via live stream — to watch their local government in action.
Jeff Briggs, longtime planning and zoning director, shared a story at Anderson’s final meeting that also captured his penchant for connecting with residents.
Anderson, like many mayors, is often asked to appear at community events. And one morning in Central Park he was giving the opening remarks before the start of a 5K. After he spoke, the DJ was supposed to play the National Anthem before the race started.
But a technical failure resulted in silence.
“There’s this dead pause and then the mayor says, ‘Well, I can sing it!” Briggs recalled.
The former high school choir member of son of Southern Baptist missionaries — his dad was a minister of music — led an acapella rendition of the anthem.
“I happened to have a clear voice that morning, which doesn’t always happen, and I thought, you know, if I start low enough I think I can do this,” Anderson recalled. “There were probably 200 people who started singing it with me.”
For now, there are no new singing gigs in his future. When Anderson’s term officially ends on Wednesday he said he plans to spend more time with his wife, children and grandchildren as well as his parents, both now in their 90s.
“I’m hoping I can find the right path to continue to serve the city,” he said.
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