News & Notes: Hard budget choices ahead; the future of Park Avenue and city promotions
A look ahead at the next Winter Park City Commission meeting
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park City Commissioners will face some hard choices this week as they continue to comb through the city’s budget and set priorities.
Is there enough money to buy the Bank of the Ozarks property to expand Seven Oaks Park? What about an awning for the Cady Way Pickle Ball courts? Can the city afford to build a sorely-needed downtown parking garage or fix more brick streets?
Those are some of the topics expected to come up when commissioners consider what to prioritize at their meeting on Wednesday.
A list of capital projects will need a serious edit, according to city staff, who determined, “the scope and quantity of projects that have been listed are beyond the current ability of expected revenues to be able to accomplish.”
An analysis of $40.9 million worth of projects desired by city staff or elected officials shows at least $30 million of the total is not funded. Staff estimated about $6 million in additional funds will become available over the next five years through the CRA, the general fund, the parks acquisition fund and the mobility impact fee, still leaving a deficit of about $23 million.
Critical to the outcome will be whether the city’s CRA is extended beyond 2027 when it is scheduled to sunset. Extension will require approval by Orange County.
The future of retail on Park Avenue and more
Winter Park wants to keep up with the Joneses. Or rather with Winter Garden, Mt. Dora and other cities that have stepped up their shopping and dining scenes in recent years to compete for Winter Park’s longstanding bragging rights as the favorite among the brunch and stroll crowd.
A new strategies report recommends ways the city can improve not only its central Park Avenue district, but the other retail corridors: Hannibal Square; Fairbanks Avenue; Orange Avenue; U.S. 17-92, which the city also calls “The Golden Mile,” and Aloma Corners on the corner of Lakemont Avenue and S.R. 426.
“Preemptive action is needed to ensure that Park Ave remains metro Orlando’s premier ‘Main Street’ experience in the minds of Central Florida residents, given the ascendancy of newer competitors such as Winter Garden, Mt. Dora, etc.” the report states.
The report also calls on Rollins College to help improve the Fairbanks Avenue area as a gateway to the small liberal arts campus.
“Fairbanks Avenue has long ranked as Winter Park’s most underwhelming commercial corridor, yet it is the prime gateway to Park Avenue as well as the front door to Rollins College, which would seem to have the mandate, the incentive and the financial wherewithal to reinvigorate the two-block stretch it primarily owns and controls so as to better compete with prospective students, professors and researchers (as well as engender good will as a tax-exempt institution)—similar to
how many other elite colleges and universities across the country, in partnership with local government, have acted aggressively to elevate their surroundings for such purpose (even at the expense of their portfolio’s operating margins),” states the report.
The recommendations are scheduled as an item for discussion on Wednesday’s City Commission agenda.
See who’s moving up
Longtime Planning & Zoning Director Jeff Briggs is retiring and Allison McGillis will step into the role after serving as assistant director and preparing for the succession for 14 months. McGillis graduated from Rollins College with a degree in Environmental Studies and Civic Urbanism and a master’s degree in Civic Urbanism. She holds certifications from the Congress for New Urbanism and is a member of American Institute of Certified Planners. Briggs served the city for 45 years and will take on a role as a consultant.
Peter Moore, division director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Pam Russell, division director of Human Resources, will take on the elevated titles of director for their respective departments after a recent pay and benefit study recommended the changes.
Moore joined the city in 2006 and has served in a number of roles. He holds an economics and history degree from Furman University and an MBA from Rollins. Russell joined the city in 2021 and graduated from Trevecca Nazarene University and served in the Army.
Questions or comments? Email the editor at WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
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By: Beth Kassab
No biography available at this time
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Rollins has all their money in that oversized and ugly hotel, apparently. Sutton Place South is an embarrassing dump as it has been for many years. Rollie’s new buildings on the lake are cheap garbagey looking quality that will need demolishing in 40 years. Why is Rollins OK with being perceived as a slumlord college?
Despite Rollins’ many imperfections, it’s still 70 degrees in January in Winter Park.
As long as it stays that way Rollins will continue to attract paying students.
UCF has 74,000 students.
As with any university some of the students won’t like it and will want to transfer.
Rollins is located within the general vicinity, making it a most convenient escape destination for UCF refugees.
Rollins doesn’t have to be good to succeed.
It just has to be in Winter Park.
On page 4 of the new strategies report linked above in Beth’s article, the authors desire to market park ave and winter park to those visitors with “elevated tastes.” I ask you all, my good friends, what are “elevated tastes?” Is it ok to be a resident without “elevated tastes” and still be welcome on park ave?
I became a member of the Winter Park community in 1965 when my family relocated to this town from suburban Washington, DC. Although at various times in my life for professional reasons, I lived both outside the state of Florida and the Orlando metro area, Winter Park has always been considered my home. The Winter Park of today is unrecognizable from that charming, elegant town that I knew for so many years. Streets have become parking lots at all hours of the night and day, finding a parking space at my local Publix can take five minutes or more, a stroll down Park Avenue means an obstacle course dodging all of the café tables that occupy most of the sidewalk area. What were local, upscale boutiques with only a smattering of restaurants along Park Avenue have been replaced principally by restaurants and cafes and, secondarily, by clothing boutiques with midscale price points. This trend started in the ‘90s with the bricking of Park Avenue and has accelerated in the past two decades. A visit to the annual Mount Dora Art Festival several years ago transported me back to the Winter Park of yesteryear, and I can certainly understand and appreciate why many Central Floridians are now preferring strolling down the streets of Mount Dora rather than along Park Avenue. Many rejoice in the vibrant tourist economy that has been created, but in increasing numbers, more long- term residents are throwing in the towel and leaving. The Winter Park that they had signed up for is long gone. However, it appears now that even some of the newer arrivals to the city are beginning to give pause to the changes that have occurred in light of the comments I am reading in the Winter Park Voice and other social media sites. I feel that the current deliberations over the fiscal 2024 city budget may be the tipping point or perhaps even a seminal event for many citizens of Winter Park when they decide what type of city they wish to call their home and what should be the funding priorities for this year’s and future budgets.