Dispute over lake view comes down to single palm tree

The commission also applauded the service of Jeff Briggs and heard an update on the negotiations over school resource officers

Jan. 22, 2025

By Beth Kassab

Jeff Briggs, retiring planning director, received a standing ovation Wednesday from the City Commission and those in the audience as he capped 47 years at the city of Winter Park.

Briggs, who is officially retiring this month after a year-long consulting stint with the city, is known for helping to define Winter Park’s unique look and feel through 11 mayors and 32 commissioners.

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Jeff Briggs speaks to the commission chambers as Mayor Sheila DeCiccio looks on.

He said Wednesday marked his 1,126th City Commission meeting and joked, “How much suffering can one person take?”

Briggs thanked the commission and the city staff and noted that planning and development tends to be the most controversial topic in the city, an observation that was evidenced later in the meeting when he defended — and the commission upheld — one of his final acts on the job — enforcing landscaping conditions on a lakefront homeowner who neighbors said is detracting from their own water views.

Can a palm tree block a lake view?

The debate over landscaping on Virginia Drive recieved the most air time Wednesday with commissioners ultimately denying an appeal from a homeowner who argued his palm tree did not violate a condition by the Planning & Zoning Board to keep landscaping under 6 feet. The special conditions came about for the property in 2021 when the P&Z board allowed the homeowner to construct his home closer to the lake shore than typically allowed.

Hedges on the property line are also taller than 6 feet, but the homeowner said he would shorten those if he can keep the palm tree in question.

A neighbor two doors down says the tall palm shoots straight through the wider view of Lake Virginia from near the lake’s southeast tip where the shoreline bends around into a small cove.

Michelle Randolph said if someone holds a finger directly in front of you, yes, you can see around the finger.

“But how much of a distraction is the finger?” she asked. “It definitely impairs the view.”

Homeowner Jonathan Cole and his attorney argued that he never agreed to the conditions and that the impact of the tree is minimal, particularly for neighbors who are two doors down. They also argued that the part of the city code that relates to lake views only covers buildings, not landscaping.

“I’ve tried to be neighborly … I’ve tried to have discussions,” Cole said in response to Commissioner Craig Russell, who asked if neighbors tried to simply work out an agreement among themselves. “I’m shocked that I’m here talking about palm trees.”

Ultimately, the commission voted 5-0 to uphold the P&Z decision that the palm tree should be removed.

SRO negotiations continue

City Manager Randy Knight told the board that the city and Orange County Public Schools continue to negotiate a new price tag for the city-provided school resource officers.

He said the cities that did not agree to the districts terms are making progress in moving toward a new deal that would go into effect at the start of next school year.

OCPS, the 8th largest school district in the nation, pays the city about $72,000 a year per officer. That agreement is set to expire at the end of this school year.

Winter Park — along with Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden and Windermere — say that’s not enough to cover the true cost of supplying officers to the schools such as health insurance and benefits, the pension fund, equipment and overtime.

The Winter Park Police Department provides officers for Lakemont and Brookshire elementaries and Winter Park High School’s main campus and ninth grade center.

WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com

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