Todd Weaver tables own request to add his home to city's historic register

A state senator on Wednesday intervened in the matter and called the request by a sitting commissioner ‘a little weird’

Jan. 8, 2025

By Beth Kassab

Commissioner Todd Weaver withdrew his request on Wednesday to add his 1957 home to Winter Park’s historic register after complaints — including from state Sen. Jason Brodeur.

Weaver prefaced his remarks at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting by noting concerns that he called unfounded “by a few dissenters who don’t offer any positive ideas.”

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Todd Weaver

Former Commissioner Pete Weldon, who Weaver unseated in a heated 2019 election, sent an email this week to residents accusing Weaver of failing to pull the proper permits when he converted a detached workshop behind the house to a small living space among other issues.

Brodeur sent an email Wednesday afternoon with the subject line, “Does this look historic to you?” and a photo of a house that does not belong to Weaver. The email from Citizens for Solutions, Brodeur’s political committee, went on to say that adding Weaver’s “lakefront ranch” to the historic register, “two months before his term ends, despite allegations from community members that there was unpermitted construction work to add a rental unit onto the property, raises red flags and serious concerns to me. I urge you to contact the mayor and commissioners if you, too, are concerned about this rushed consideration for Commissioner Weaver’s personal benefit.”

Weaver announced last fall he is not running for re-election and will leave office by April.

Brodeur told the Voice on Wednesday that he included a photo of the wrong home intentionally because he didn’t want to provide an image of a fellow elected official’s house. He said the photo he used is similar to the look of Weaver’s home.

“It’s up to the city,” he said. “I’m just raising the concern … a sitting commissioner doing this two months before he’s out of office looks a little weird.”

Brodeur said concerns were brought to him by constituents in his district, which covers Seminole County and a small piece of north central Orange County that includes Winter Park.

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Jason Brodeur

The Republican also involved himself in a city debate last year when he advocated against Winter Park’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers and threatened to take away the ability of cities statewide to create such bans if Winter Park commissioners did not put a referendum on the matter to voters this year. That question will now appear on the March ballot.

Weaver, a Democrat who was a leading proponent of creating the ban because of the noise and health and environmental impacts of the gas-powered machines, is one of the commission’s most vocal environmentalists.

Longtime planning director Jeff Briggs, who is set to officially retire this month, said owners can voluntarily apply to add their homes to Winter Park’s historic register, which includes some 400 properties. The homes must be at least 50 years old and include distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction or architecture. Structures can also be added if they are associated with historic events or people.

The Historic Preservation Board recommended approval of Weaver’s application last month after a staff report made the case for adding the home and noting that it’s common for those like it, especially on a lake, to be demolished.

“When one sees many other homes of similar mid-century modern architectural styling in a neighborhood, then the misconception is that such is
not worthy of a historic preservation status,” said the report. “This home is of mid-century modern architectural styling. Many of these low-sloped roof, one-story homes from the 1950s are what the City routinely sees for tear-downs and rebuilds. Especially in lakefront locations. What this historic designation will do is to maintain the scale and look of the original homes built in this neighborhood.”

Owners of homes on the historic register are allowed a special perk of renting out garage apartments or, in Weaver’s case, a detached “cottage” for a minimum of 30 days. Such rentals are not otherwise permitted in the city.

Weaver said he rented out the cottage previously until 2018 when he learned it was against city code and before he took public office.

He denied any wrongdoing related to permits for work he did on the unit and said the structure already contained plumbing for a toilet and a sink as well as electric when he used the space as a workshop before his neighborhood was annexed into the city in 2004.

The cottage is used today at no charge by traveling artists who are in town for the opera or other events, he said. Weaver told the Voice he did not plan to rent the unit for money even if the home is added to the historic register. He plans to bring his application forward again later this year when he is no longer in public office.

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