
Winter Park Police try to help homeless one person at a time
A new unit aims to connect people who are living on the streets with organizations that can provide new IDs, food, health care and other resources
June 6, 2025
By Kathryn Brudzinski
Winter Park Police officers Kyle Liquori and Rick Thomas made their way on foot on a recent afternoon to a weed-infested alcove tucked under the Rev. Kenneth C. Crossman railway bridge over U.S. 17-92.
The officers found what they were looking for just out of plain sight from drivers whizzing along the busy stretch near the border between Winter Park and Maitland – an overturned shopping cart surrounded by empty tuna cans, batteries, plastic plates, a dirty blanket and a weathered library book amid a pile of trash and abandoned belongings.
“You can see they killed all the grass there,” Liquori said, pointing to a patch of packed down dirt. “You can tell someone’s been sleeping there recently.”
“Don’t think anyone’s here now, though,” Thomas said, leaning past the sidewalk railing for a better look.
It’s one of the signs of homelessness that’s become as familiar to the pair of officers in recent months as the oak-canopied brick streets and old Florida mansions that often define Winter Park.
Liquori and Thomas make up the police department’s new Homeless Advocacy Response Team, a program Winter Park tested last year and started up again in February with the help of a federal grant.
The idea combines elements of policing with potential aid for one of Central Florida’s most intractable problems. As soaring housing costs across the region have pushed more people out of a stable place to live, Liquori and Thomas are patrolling the streets to connect people with help rather than arrest them for crimes.

An overturned shopping cart sits under the Rev. Kenneth C. Crossman railway bridge over U.S. 17-92. Above photo: Officer Kyle Liquori investigates an abandoned camp tucked in the trees near I-4. (Photos by Kathryn Brudzinski)
“This is the side of things that people don’t see a whole lot of the time,” Liquori, standing in the shade of the bridge. “You’re driving, going to work, and you’re not really looking up here, right? But there’s plenty of places like this.”
The start of the officers’ new roles happened to coincide with a new Florida law that bans sleeping on public property.
So far the pair haven’t made any arrests related to public camping, they said. Many of the camp sites they find are on private land in wooded areas or hidden behind gas stations or other businesses. But the new state mandate has complicated their mission.
“It’s tough,” Liquori said. “When we go out, we have to inform them of the law. That’s our job first and foremost as law enforcement officers. But then we’re trying to help them out, too, so it’s a fine line.”
The officers set out on the special patrol four days a week, typically starting at 6 a.m. when those who slept outdoors for the night are more likely to still be at their camps.

Officer Kyle Liquori, right, looks for any potentially dangerous materials like drug paraphernalia surrounding a camp near Interstate 4 with Officer Rick Thomas.
HART, the department’s shorthand for the program, aims to give time for officers to build one-on-one relationships with people they find on the streets. A little trust and familiarity, the officers said, goes a long way when a person is trying to decide if they will accept help from other groups that can provide meals, clothes, mental health services or housing.
“It can be hard to get through to those people and say, ‘Hey, let me help you,’” Liquori said. “Let’s go get you a hot shower, let’s go get food or get laundry done. They’ve had to do things by themselves for so long, they’re going to continue to do things by themselves.”
Both men wear polos and khakis with protective vests and carry their department-issued firearms. They drive a marked pickup truck without the barrier that separates officers in the front of a patrol vehicle from passengers in the backseat. They say they use water bottles, cleaning wipes, tissues and more from the supply stock they carry than they use handcuffs.
Driving through the city on a recent Monday, they showed a reporter their typical route, which often focuses on the east side of Winter Park. They encounter more people there, usually more men than women and usually middle-aged or older.
“As we help one or two people out, we’ll see two new faces,” Liquori said. “It’s a revolving door, at least three to five people a day that we’re getting out with and talking to and helping.”
Homelessness isn’t new, especially in Orange County, where hourly wages are lower than the national average and rents soared after the pandemic.
Winter Park’s Brookshire Elementary, Lakemont Elementary and Winter Park High School this year tallied a combined 10 students living in motels, one in a shelter and 76 bunking up with another family or other shared arrangements, according to records from Orange County Public Schools.
Eric Gray, executive director of the Christian Service Center for the Homeless, said the number of people in need of permanent housing is steadily increasing.
“Nationally, the overall number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in 2023 was about 650,000, but in 2024 that number went to 770,000,” Gray said. “That increase compared to the rest of the population means it’s the highest percentage of the population in the United States experiencing homelessness since the Great Depression.”
Liquori and Thomas said they’ve noticed it’s easier to help people who are newer to sleeping on the streets than those who have lived without a permanent residence for a long time.
“The longer you stay in that cycle, the harder it is to come out of it,” Liquori said. “When we get out with people that are recently homeless, we have a greater success rate of them accepting resources or them getting the help versus people that have been homeless longer.”
The pair said they see the toll homelessness takes on the mental and physical health of people they meet and they are mindful that some people may have had negative interactions with police in the past.
Being homeless can “consume” a person, Liquori said, when that person’s priorities are reduced to simple survival while potentially dealing with mental health, physical disabilities or addiction issues.
“For some people, they’re just trying to get along and get by their day,” Thomas said.
That’s why the officers said they don’t force anyone to accept help. But in cases where someone is willing, the officers show them a list they created, and routinely update, of organizations like The Sharing Center, Family Promise of Greater Orlando or the Samaritan Resource Center and give them a ride to the place of their choice.
“We never force anyone to go to get help anywhere,” Liquori said. “We’re trying to establish more relationships with people on an individual level. We’re walking up to the front door, we’re introducing them to the intake person. We’re doing a better job exchanging hands, that way they get the care and the resources they need.”
The interactions mean Thomas and Liquori get to know some of the “regulars” they encounter on patrol and check back in on them. After months on the job, they know where to look – certain street corners, wooded areas behind gas stations, the hidden nooks under overpasses.
One such regular, they recalled, is a man who they learned is a veteran named Eugene. He told them he became homeless years ago after he fell from a ladder and was injured.
“He just didn’t have the insurance to have coverage,” Thomas said. “He was an hourly employee, fell behind and became homeless. You know, you get hurt and can’t work for a couple of months and then your employer lets you go.”
They said they found out the man could possibly qualify for housing through the Pathlight HOME organization in Orlando, but he didn’t have his military discharge paperwork or other documents.
Thomas drove him to the Lake Baldwin Veteran Affairs Clinic.
“The first day he initially went there to get his paperwork and he ended up getting some prescriptions that he needed filled and got some medical treatment,” Thomas said. “He didn’t get the paperwork that day, but at least he got what he needed. I came back and picked him up and gave him another ride another day to actually get his paperwork.”
Many of the people they encounter are in a similar situation – they’ve lost their official identification and other documents they need to get a job or access to services. The officers say IDigity, a local nonprofit that helps people recover proof of identity, has been helpful.
“That’s the problem if you’re homeless and you lose your paperwork or ID, you don’t have anything to get another one,” Liquori said.
Gray said cities like Winter Park must also confront the “horror” of homelessness by investing in more services within its borders and by helping to create more affordable housing.
Of the more than a dozen charitable organizations and resource providers on the Winter Park Police website for homeless resources only two of those have Winter Park addresses: Jewish Family Services of Orlando and Greater Promise of Greater Orlando.
“These are the last things that communities like Winter Park want to be doing because they attract the very element that they don’t want in their community,” Gray said. “But the reality is that the people who are homeless right now in Winter Park were, 90 percent of the time, last housed in Winter Park.”
He said Orange County’s affordable housing deficit is about 75,000 units. The greater Orlando area ranks as one of the worst places in the nation for affordable housing. For every 100 extremely low-income renters, the region has just 19 affordable and available units, according to a new report on the housing gap from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“We’re growing further out of balance,” Gray said. “It’s going in the wrong direction. There’s very few places available in the community that people can legitimately afford without spending almost half or more of their income on rent or even a mortgage.”
He said his organization has seen law enforcement units take more action since Florida’s public camping ban took effect to clear out places where known encampments are set up, even for a single individual.
“They’re not being rude or aggressive about it, they’re just abiding by the law and the way that it’s written now,” Gray said. “Law enforcement officers are the ones that are the most unhappy about it from our experience. None of them decided to become a police officer because they could help move homeless people along to another place.”
Liquori and Thomas have seen it, too. They recently discovered that a homeless camp just out of their jurisdiction on a pond and hidden behind a tree line had been cleared away.
“Orange County or someone must have come here and cleaned the camp out all on the back,” Thomas said, pointing out a newly installed no trespassing sign from the Florida Department of Transportation. “There were 15, maybe 20 tents back here. We haven’t been back here in a couple weeks … but it looks like it’s all gone.”

Officer Rick Thomas discovers just over the border of Winter Park that more than a dozen tents were recently cleared away.
The change made Liquori pause.
“They kind of had a somewhat permanent place to stay, but now they’re just roaming the streets,” Liquori said. “It’s tough, you know? What’s better?”
Liquori and Thomas often take on the responsibility of cleaning up camp sites they find on public property in Winter Park, loading stolen shopping carts into the bed of their truck to return to stores and clearing away trash and other abandoned items.
“Yeah, it’s dirty and disgusting and someone has to clean this up,” Liquori said, looking at a plastic sleeping mat hidden in the trees at another camp near Interstate 4 and Fairbanks Avenue. “But someone was living back here at some point, you know? That’s the real sad part. This was someone’s home.”
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Kathryn Brudzinski is a reporter based in Orlando and a University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in journalism, as well as a certificate in public and professional writing. Her work has appeared in Oviedo Community News, VoxPopuli and The Charge.

Public golf courses swing for revenue as upgrades continue
The city has spent more than $750,000 on changes in recent years at Winter Park Pines and the Winter Park Nine
June 4, 2025
By Charles Maxwell
The nine-hole Winter Park Golf Course and the 18-hole Winter Park Pines Golf Club are undergoing upgrades this year, part of more than $750,000 Winter Park has spent in recent years on the city-owned courses.
The goal, said Parks and Recreation Director Jason Seeley, is to keep the courses profitable, as other courses across the region have closed or fallen into disrepair.
The Winter Park Nine saw an increase in rounds played last year to 52,000 as well as a jump in revenue from membership and greens fees, according to city records. But the Pines saw a decrease in rounds played in 2024 to 33,000 as well as a drop in greens fees, though membership revenue increased compared to 2023.
Improving the Pines course, which the city purchased in 2022 for $8 million after the private owner pushed to redevelop the land or else allow the manicured fairways to grow wild, remains a top priority, said Jason Seely, director of parks and recreation.
He said the city is exploring the idea of adding tracking technology to the driving range that could draw more people to the sport. Options like Trackman Range could turn the Pines into a Topgolf-like hang-out in Winter Park with virtual golf games and realistic course simulations.
“It would bring a whole different vibe to the facility,” Seeley said. “It goes from being just a golf course, which is great for golfers, to also being a place where anybody in the community might use it.”
Seeley recently traveled to Clermont National Golf Course to learn more about their inrange system, similar to Trackman.
He said Clermont National’s driving range now “does better than the actual golf course… Not only does the range create its own revenue, it also completely changed the dynamics as far as their food and beverage. They’re no longer selling food and beverages a little bit in the morning and a little bit at lunch… they’re are selling all night long.”
While the Pines has shown an operating profit since the city bought it, Winter Park has also invested heavily in upgrades.
The city has spent about $600,000 on improvements so far, using money from the bonds issued to purchase the 18-hole course visible from Semoran Boulevard near Hanging Moss Road.
Changes include lengthening the course and increasing the par from 69 to 72, renovations to the clubhouse and restrooms, an outdoor patio and beer garden, a new driving range surface and automated ball dispenser, planting new pine trees and other landscaping and replacing or repairing three bridges on the course.
While the number of rounds played at the Pines dropped in 2024, which included two weeks of rain closures, the course still showed an operating profit. Revenue decreased by about $90,000 to $1.7 million from 2023 to 2024, according to city records, and operating expenses totaled about $1.6 million.

A recent photo shows a patchy green at Winter Park Pines, the 18-hole golf course purchased by the city in 2022. (Photos by Charles Maxwell)
Although the course’s revenues have not covered the interest on the debt from the purchase, the city defends the decision to rescue the course.
In a recent email to residents, Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said the Pines “is not just a golf course. It is permanently protected parkland.”
Winter Park is not the only local government to buy a course after owners threatened to build more homes or condos over the green spaces.
Oviedo bought the Twin Rivers Golf Club in 2017 for more than $5 million to prevent the land from being redeveloped. In 2021, Seminole County purchased Deer Run Golf Club in Casselberry and Wekiva Golf Club in Longwood for nearly $14 million. The county is turning Deer Run into a passive park, but Wekiva is still being operated as a course.
The Winter Park Nine, which is nestled between the commercial district centered on Park Avenue and the neighborhood along the shores of Lake Osceola, is also showing a smaller profit despite nearly 52,000 rounds played last year compared to 42,000 in 2022.
Profit fell from about $205,000 to $106,000 over the same two-year period as improvements continued on the course that dates back to 1914.
The city purchased the course in the mid-1990s after operating it for years. In 2016 it underwent a major renovation.
Since then, the city has spent about $150,000 on recent additional upgrades such as the patio space outside the clubhouse and expansion of the first tee box, along with a new rain shelter near hole four and an updated Thor Guard lightning prediction system.
Players at the nine-hole course will begin to notice this fall a new maintenance facility, along with new bunker liners to keep the sandtraps structurally sound during storm season and minimize future maintenance costs.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Charles Maxwell graduated from Winter Park High School and Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Multimedia Studies. His work has appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boca Raton Tribune, and he is a contributing writer for Keeping it Heel on the FanSided network.

Beef over Today Show visit, no more flouride and what to do over private pickleball noise
The City Commission also approved a new lease for the Benefit Shop at its most recent meeting
May 29, 2025
By Beth Kassab
Winter Park has had it up to the top of the Knowles Chapel steeple with giving away free publicity to the neighboring city of Orlando.
Earlier this month the Today Show filmed its third hour from Central Park as small crowd gathered to watch.
The city waived the park rental fee for Visit Orlando, the tourism marketing agency that coordinated the Today Show’s visit and that receives more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars intended to benefit the region.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said she was surprised that the show never thanked or even mentioned Winter Park on air. She said Visit Orlando representatives told the city the reason is because the show was an Orlando event intended to promote Orlando.
“I propose on a go forward basis that visit Orlando gets nothing from Winter Park for free unless credit is given to Winter Park or they can pay fees like anyone else renting the park,” DeCiccio said.
“They didn’t say at all they were in Winter Park?” asked Commissioner Craig Russell.
“Not one word,” DeCiccio responded.
“Oh, no you can’t … no …,” Russell said back.
“And they stayed at the Alfond Inn, too,” DeCiccio said, referring to the luxury hotel owned by Rollins College just off Park Avenue.
The segment featured an interview with Michael James Scott, the Broadway actor known for playing the Genie in Disney’s musical version of Aladdin who grew up in Central Florida and attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, as well as chefs from three Orlando restaurants.
The Today Show snub comes on the heels of the New York Times’ “36 Hours in Orlando,” which recommended readers actually spend many of those hours in Winter Park and featured a large photo of Winter Park’s Scenic Boat Tour.
Fluoride to leave city water
City Manager Randy Knight told commissioners that the city would stop adding fluoride to its water system by July 1 in order to comply with a recently passed state ban.
He said it’s possible fluoride will be out of the water system before July because the city’s supply may run out before then and the utility did not order more because of the new state law.
At a Utilities Advisory Board meeting earlier this week, Water Utility Director David Zusi said the concentration of fluoride in Winter Park’s water was low and the additive does not affect the taste or water softness or hardness. As a result, residents won’t be able to detect the change, he said.
Alison Yurko, a member of the advisory board, said she wanted to make sure customers know that the change is a result of state law rather than local policy.
“I think this is going to have a very unfortunate effect on kids at the lower income level who don’t go to the dentist,” she said.
The American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support using fluoride to help prevent cavities in children, especially in underserved communities. They also cite a lack of evidence for health harms when fluoride is at the current low levels used in most community water systems in the U.S.
The Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis backed the state ban in the wake of renewed scrutiny over the additive driven by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., national secretary of Health and Human Services, who has called fluoride an “industrial waste,” citing its potential health risks.
Public health studies conclude that risks related to fluoride exposure are generally associated with receiving either too much or too little and do not apply to the low concentrations found in most public water systems.
Private pickleball? Commissioners worry over noise
There’s been a change of plans for a prominent corner near Park Avenue that may lead to new city regulations for private pickleball courts.
Last year a founder of Full Sail University sought approval to develop a three-story building at the corner of Morse Boulevard and Knowles Avenue to be anchored by Storyville Coffee, a concept he started on the west coast.
But Jon Phelps’ idea for the property has changed said City Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis. Plans now call for a one-story building that still includes a Storyville Coffee, but also a swimming pool and pickleball court to go along with the private residence portion of the building.
Commissioner Warren Lindsey raised concerns about potential noise from the courts so close to other businesses.
“I think we need to proactively address private pickleball courts,” he said.
McGillis said the city’s codes include regulations related to tennis courts, but not pickleball courts, and said noise complaints related to pickleball are common.
Commissioners asked her to come back to the group with recommendations for how to revise the city’s rules to address noise and any other concerns.
New lease for Benefit Shop
At the previous City Commission, members voted to pursue a 3-year lease with the Benefit Shop, a thrift store that once operated out of City Hall and raises money for local charities by re-selling household goods and clothes.
But on Wednesday the Commission voted 3-2 to change the term to five years with Commissioners Marty Sullivan, Kris Cruzada and Craig Russell in favor.
The shop, a longtime fixture in Winter Park, wanted a 35-year lease to move to the Lake Island Park building in MLK Park. But commissioners felt that was too long and limited future commissions who might need to consider additional uses for the building at some point.
Debbie Glaser, a co-manager of the shop, said it plans to re-open on Fridays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the new location beginning this week. She said the shop now has more than 20 volunteers and hopes to add additional hours in the future.
Information from Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy was used in this report related to the impacts of fluoride.
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Commission approves historic preservation changes
Winter Park city officials also said they were attempting to help Austin's Coffee relocate and will try to negotiate a new lease with the Benefit Shop
May 15, 2025
By Beth Kassab
The City Commission approved changes to the historic preservation ordinance that are designed to discourage unapproved demolitions with clear potential consequences and to ensure homeowners don’t deviate from plans approved by the Historic Preservation Board.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to pass “Version 1” of the changes that say owners who knock down or dramatically alter historic structures without permission after going through the certificate of review process can be required to build the structure back exactly as it was, including using authentic exterior materials. In addition, they could lose any variances the historic board granted that allowed the project to move forward.
Commissioner Marty Sullivan was the only dissenting vote because, he said, he wanted “Version 2” of the proposed changes, which included the option of a financial penalty for such unauthorized demolitions capped at 30% of the building’s county assessed value — though Sullivan suggested the cap increase to 60%.
“I think 30% is way too little,” Sullivan said.
The debate over the ordinance, which had been delayed from earlier this year, centered on whether or not to include the monetary penalty, which drew fierce opposition from some in the city’s historic districts who viewed it as far too punitive.
But the version approved by the commission is potentially even more punitive when you consider the cost of losing variances on setbacks or other building rules.
Variances, or exceptions to the usual building code, are viewed as a clear benefit for historic owners to encourage them to preserve the outside architecture of buildings. For example, if the typical required buffer between a home addition and the property lot line is 20 feet, historic owners might be allowed to build to 10 feet.
As a result, losing those variances, as the ordinance says could happen in the case of an unauthorized demolition, is a “huge deal,” said John Skolfield, a builder who was elected earlier on Wednesday to serve as chairman of the Historic Preservation Board.
“If you think about the house in question that started all of this … we approved a beautiful design that brought it to 7,200 square feet,” he told the commission. “You have to build back without the variances, that’s a $500,000 to $800,000 ding.”
He was referring to the house at 965 Lakeview Drive that went before the Historic Preservation Board for a major renovation and addition. The board authorized the plans, but only approved the demolition of a detached garage in the back.
Last year, however, all but a small portion of the first floor and the chimney was torn down. The contractor agreed to pay $100,000 to make amends for the mistake and the project was allowed to go forward.
The episode set off a major debate and led to the ordinance changes.
Winter Park has about 400 historic structures including the College Quarter and Virginia Heights districts and individually designated homes and commercial buildings.
The historic board only has a say when it comes to major exterior alterations of buildings, not minor changes or repairs or interior projects. Window and door replacements or roof replacements, for example, are not required to come before the board so long as they stay consistent with the architectural style and must only follow the typical building permit process.
The new ordinance also requires additional checks on construction plans to make sure what the contractor does matches approvals given by the board. And it requires additional due diligence to make sure owners and contractors are aware earlier in the process if there is a part of the structure they won’t be able to save.
The future of Austin’s Coffee
More than 20 people lined up to once again lambast the City Commission for refusing to renew the lease for Austin’s Coffee, which will expire in October.
The city purchased the property rented by Austin’s and other businesses last year and the coffee shop has known for at least a year that the lease will end so that the city can use the property to add a turn lane on Fairbanks Avenue and make drainage improvements.
City Manager Randy Knight said the city has hired a broker to help Austin’s find a new location, will allow the owners to take anything from the property that they wish to take and will also return the security deposit.
But for Austin’s loyal supporters, that isn’t enough.
Speaker after speaker bashed the city for taking away a place that they said is considered a “sanctuary” by many in the arts community.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said she was frustrated by the misinformation she heard.
“We are not evicting Austin’s … they have had over a year to find a new space,” she said. “… We are paying a Realtor to help them.”
She explained that the intersection at Fairbanks and Denning is busy and accident prone and residents deserve a solution. They also deserve a fix, she said, to the drainage and flooding problems that occur in the area.
“Please take that into consideration when you criticize this commission,” she said.
Benefit Shop lease uncertain
The city is attempting to negotiate a new lease with the Benefit Shop, a thrift store that raises money for local charities by selling used household goods and clothes.
The group operated in City Hall for years but the space is now needed by city staff. The Benefit Shop is interested in moving to a small building at MLK Park where the city just spent $10,000 to fix the air-conditioning system.
But the Benefit Shop wants a lease that extends to 35 years with the city covering all major costs such as maintenance and insurance.
DeCiccio and other commissioners said that term was too long and could prohibit future commissions from additional uses of the building. The commission voted to attempt to negotiate a three-year lease for $1 each year at the Lake Island Park building. The Benefit Shop would be responsible for the insurance beginning in its second year.
A final deal, if reached, will come back to the commission for approval.
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An unapproved demo, a $100k penalty and hours of debate
How a demolition in College Quarter led to proposed changes to Winter Park's Historic Preservation rules, which will be up for a vote Wednesday by the City Commission
May 13, 2025
By Beth Kassab
A year ago, custom builder Charlie Clayton stood before the Historic Preservation Board and apologized, offering to make amends for the unauthorized demolition of a large portion of 965 Lakeview Drive, a 1936 home overlooking Lake Virginia in the College Quarter Historic District.
“I can’t take back what happened,” Clayton told the board on May 8, 2024. “… My interest is not to decimate the resources of the city … I’m not a guy who goes in and tries to destroy the town. I don’t get in trouble like this, but I’m in trouble now.”
Clayton said he even went door to door in College Quarter, one of the largest collections of near-century-old homes in the region, to explain how the second floor of the house was torn down, leaving just the chimney and a small portion of the first floor standing.
The board had only approved the demolition of a garage behind the house and the city ordered work to stop on the project when it learned of the demolition.
Clayton blamed miscommunication with his crew on the site and told the Historic Preservation Board he was prepared to pay $25,000 toward the city’s Historic Preservation Fund and complete the project in a way that would deliver the same end result — a new face on the front of the house that adds additional second-story windows and removes historically inaccurate columns added before the current historic preservation rules were in place.

A photo from the Orange County Property Appraiser shows how the home at 965 Lakeview Drive looked in 2023. The above image shows what the home looked like last year after demolition.
Ultimately, the historic preservation board and staff negotiated the payment to $100,000 and allowed the project to continue. Clayton paid the money the next day.
The board, though, could have issued what some preservationists argue would have been a harsher penalty: Require the homeowner and contractor to reconstruct the home exactly as it was and take back the building variances granted to the project that allowed the homeowner to add square footage to the home.
That choice — a financial penalty or a requirement to build back what was lost and lose valuable variances — will be at the center of the debate expected Wednesday when the City Commission considers proposed changes to the Historic Preservation ordinance touched off by what happened at the Lakeview house.
Commissioners will decide if they want the ordinance to explicitly offer the option of a payment (capped at 30% of the structure’s assessed value) in the event of an unauthorized demolition. Or if they will lean more heavily on the threat of removing variances and requiring reconstruction of an improperly demolished building.
The proposals follow a year of intense debate over the demolition and the historic preservation board’s response.
Ryan Phillips, who owns the home, recorded a conversation with a board member on the sidewalk in front of his house without the board member’s permission and used that to allege he was threatened and treated unfairly.
He spoke at multiple public meetings to allege impropriety over the city’s request that Clayton pay the penalty and lodged state ethics complaints against members of the historic preservation board, a city attorney and former Planning Director Jeff Briggs.
The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed all eight of those complaints on April 30 because of a “lack of legal sufficiency.”
Phillips and Clayton did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.
The variances Phillips was allowed to keep for his new construction after the demolition allowed for the home to grow from its original size.
Such variances are key perks for homeowners in historic districts, which enforce architectural standards for the exterior of homes.
Members of Winter Park’s Historic Preservation Board, along with city staff, say they have a job to do: maintain the historic character and authenticity of some 400 properties in the city’s resident-approved historic districts and individually-designated sites.
Their job is not, as retired Planning Director Jeff Briggs once put it, to be the “Historic Replica Board” — or one expected to sign off on every requested demolition or ignore violations of the city’s code. That would render the group a toothless overseer of new construction.
“Basically, it opens the door for everyone to ask for forgiveness and not permission,” Briggs said of violations that harm or destroy historic structures without the board’s approval.
And while the Lakeview house is a recent example of an unauthorized demolition. It’s not the only one.
At the historic preservation meeting last month member Lee Rambeau said changes to the ordinances are needed and she was in favor of adding explicit language about fines.
“I’ve seen a number of properties come before us and the final outcome did not look like what we approved,” she said.
Proposed changes to the ordinance also include stricter application requirements and add a “pre-application” review by the board so that property owners can receive early design feedback before spending a lot of money on detailed renderings. The changes also would require property owners to give more detailed information about the materials they will use and architectural elements.
The change also attempts to cut down on unexpected requests for demolitions after a project starts by requiring applicants to submit a “due diligence assessment” identifying all proposed demolitions or alterations in advance.
A number of historic property owners, including Clayton, spoke out at a community meeting earlier this year against including fines as part of the proposed changes.
At the Historic Preservation meeting in April the board ultimately voted to recommend the version of the ordinance without the fines.
Aimee Spencer, who recently rotated off the board, said that version is potentially harsher on homeowners.
In the case of the Lakeview house, she said, the board attempted to “exercise empathy and kindness” and not penalize the homeowner for work done by the contractor without his knowledge. The project was allowed to proceed as planned rather than have its variances revoked.
But the case became one of what she saw as a “sore winner,” she said.
Wade Miller, who until last month served as board chairman, also said he saw the rebuild requirement and loss of variances as a harsher penalty.
But members of the public and board members spoke against including the fines in the ordinance.
“If that is what I am hearing from the community and members of the board, then so be it,” he said. “… we will see how that plays out … and I think it ultimately will become a much more severe outcome in the future for homeowners of historic properties.”
Betsy Owens, executive director of Casa Feliz, one of Winter Park’s most prominent preservation stories, said a fine could be viewed by some property owners as a cost of doing business rather than a preservation incentive. A requirement to rebuild a demolished structure is considered a best practice in other cities that also value historic preservation such as Coral Gables or Charleston, she said.
“I think the best way to make things right is to have you rebuild what you knocked down,” she said. “Losing variances is a stronger disincentive than a fine.”
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