Month: January 2025

The Winter Park Historic Preservation Board forced a local contractor to pay $100,000 to the city. This was at best unwarranted coercion and likely meets the legal standard of extortion. See below. The city’s Historic Preservation Ordinance is filled with arbitrary standards that leave applicants at the mercy of zealous board members. Remember that our city commission members appoint these people. Please tell the city commission to repay the $100,000 and to change the ordinance so that this cannot happen again. This should never be the way Winter Park does business. _________________________________ From: Ryan PhillipsSent: Friday, January 3, 2025 4:42:03…

We are fortunate that Justin Vermuth wants to be our city commissioner. Justin is an attorney raising his young family in Winter Park. He is running to ensure our city focuses resources and policy to benefit our families and strengthen our neighborhoods, adding value that will keep Winter Park special.  Justin’s policy priorities include: cutting wasteful spending and restoring our reserves to the 30% target, investing in the well-being of our city by upgrading our parks and playing fields, making government more accessible to young and working families, and refocusing the commission from personal policies and ambitions to the core…

I offer some concluding remarks on Weaver’s permit issues and his request for historic designation. I believe there is a lesson here for those promoting and supporting candidates for Winter Park City Commission to be more discerning. At Wednesday’s commission meeting Weaver asked for his historic designation request to be tabled until April, after he is out of office. Weaver later told the32789 that “he knew he had the votes but his decision to put off the hearing was made out of deference to commissioners and staff.” Weaver’s statement bizarrely admits a violation of the Sunshine law that prohibits commission…

Should be a fun vote by the City Commission Wednesday, January 8th on a request by commission member Todd Weaver to declare his home at 1051 Lake Bell Drive as historic. This is a bald attempt by Weaver to legalize his code violations going back at least 10 years. How, you ask? Approving his home as “historic” (which it is not), will grant Weaver the right to continue to rent out his illegal “accessory cottage” while NOT holding him accountable for his years of numerous code violations. This from the agenda language: The rear accessory cottage was a storage shed…