What to watch this week: Anderson's last meeting, CRA and sinkhole risk near MLK Park

The City Commission is also set to give final approval to the expansion of the CRA before Orange County takes up the matter this summer

March 22, 2024

By Beth Kassab

This week Mayor Phil Anderson will preside over his final City Commission meeting, ending a three-year term when new Mayor Sheila DeCiccio is sworn in next month.

Anderson, who first served as a commissioner from 2008 to 2011, will depart with a number of accomplishments, including likely final approval of the Community Redevelopment Agency expansion plan at his last meeting.

Commissioners are expected to take up the plan again on Wednesday, it’s final stop before going before the Orange County Board of Commissioners sometime this summer.

“This is a really big deal,” Anderson said after the commission reviewed the plan in the first of two required readings earlier this month. “By getting another 10 years we can do more things, like community centers, affordable housing …  Hurricane Ian highlighted storm projects and this is one of the big funding sources.”

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Mayor Phil Anderson gives the State of the City remarks as commissioners Marty Sullivan, Sheila DeCiccio and Kris Cruzada look on.

The plan, which started more than a year ago, calls for the CRA to be extended by 10 years — through 2037 — and grow its boundaries by 142 acres by taking in a former industrial area along Fairbanks Avenue west of U.S. 17-92.

The new CRA, which is controlled by the City Commission, is projected to generate between $162 million and $213 million in revenue through 2037.

CRA’s are used across Florida by cities and counties as a way to finance redevelopment and specific projects. It works like this: property values within a CRA’s boundaries are frozen at a certain year — in this case that year would be 2023. Then, as values rise, any taxes on those properties collected above the frozen amount go into a CRA fund rather than back to the city and county that would typically collect them. (The city and county still collect taxes each year up to the frozen amount and school board taxes are not affected.)

That means dollars paid by CRA property owners that would typically go to Orange County and Winter Park would instead go to a fund to directly benefit the CRA. The portion from Orange County will provide significant additional revenue for projects that Winter Park otherwise wouldn’t control.

The plan calls for the money to go to affordable housing (in the form of new projects and rehabilitating current housing), street and transportation projects and infrastructure improvements.

Sinkholes at MLK Park?

Also on Wednesday, commissioners will hear a report from a consultant about the risk of sinkholes in and around MLK Park. The consultant did not find an elevated risk in the area, according to public documents.

The study came in response from residents concerned about the area that includes the Winter Park Library and Events Center and a sinkhole that opened in the 1980s that is now a small pond near Denning Drive and Orange Avenue.

Commissioners have said they wanted to understand the risks in the area before moving ahead with adding additional parking near the events center.

New B&B request

The owners of five of six units at Villa Vienda Condominiums (221 Holt Avenue) is asking for approval to convert the condos into a bed & breakfast in order to use them as Air B&B or VRBO properties.

The building was historically occupied by Rollins students and the owners are no longer happy with that arrangement because of frequent maintenance issues and the location near the campus makes it difficult to find other renters. As a result they are requesting to comply with the city’s B&B rules.

“This is a unique scenario and an especially unique location,” says a staff memo about the request, which adds that the neighbors are in support of the change.

WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com

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