Author: Peter Weldon

Please contact the Mayor and Commissioners and tell them to stop wasting our money! Winter Park requires park and recreation land be at least ten acres per 1,000 population, or 300 acres of park based on a population of 30,000. We now have 471 acres of park land, or 157% of the requirement. Further, Winter Park is completely built out with no land available for residential development that would increase usage of our existing parks. Now, the city commission is about to commit to purchase 1.88 acres at the corner of Denning Drive and Orange Avenue for over $6,000,000 and…

Unfortunately, in recent years our governance has gone from genuine concern for the long term interests of our residents and businesses, to policies based in personal political ideology of commission members and their friends. Fiduciary duty has been replaced by selfish ideology.

Your sole justification for all this waste is to “preserve” land. There is no strategic insight or rationale serving the people of Winter Park that justifies this park. This will go down in Winter Park history as a totally pointless personal indulgence.

By Guest Author Ellie Warner Here in Winter Park we have a new Sustainability department with three full time employees and a yearly budget of $417,600.  We have a code enforcement department so alert that they flagged one political sign in my yard on a rarely traveled dead end because it was not precisely 10 feet from the curb.   Maybe the two departments could put their heads together and compare mission statements. Natural Resources and Sustainability has an event coming up called Delivering Our City Knowledge Dock Party. I know this because they have littered two city owned narrow lakeside…

A new state law requires voters to renew their Vote By Mail request each calendar year. Renew your Vote By Mail request now for all 2023 elections. You can renew or establish your Vote By Mail request by following the instructions here: https://www.ocfelections.com/vote-by-mail. Regards, Pete Weldon

The City Commission will consider the proposed lease of the old library building this coming Wednesday, January 11. City staff is recommending against entering into the proposed lease (click here for details). Please review the staff recommendation and my letter to the commission below. Let the commission know your view on this issue. Please ask them to seek alternatives. My recent letter to the commission: Mayor and Commissioners, Please fully vet all reasoned alternatives to the proposed lease of the old library building. The proposed lease does not substantially meet the requirements of the original RFP given the intent of…

The Winter Park City Commission is scheduled to vote this coming Wednesday, December 14th, on modifications to the “backyard chicken” ordinance. If you want to approve backyard chickens next to your home I suggest you let the commission know now: mayorandcommissioners@cityofwinterpark.org. The revised ordinance as proposed REMOVES the requirement that applicants obtain written approval for the keeping of chickens on their premises from abutting property owner(s). There was significant push-back when this ordinance was proposed in 2020 that resulted in adding the neighbor approval requirement. Removing it now does not seem wise. Let the commission know your views on this…

The city commission will soon be voting on a proposed lease of the city owned former library building at 460 E New England Ave. The lease terms discussed are 30 years at $250,000 per year for use primarily as office space, this is roughly 2 to 5 times less than tax-payers should be receiving for the property, and neighbors will be severely impacted by increased traffic. The existing building is 33,000 square feet and the property has 68 parking spaces, while our code requires 132 parking spaces for office use. The commission’s request for proposal for the old library property was based…

Your ballot for the November 8, 2022 election includes an Orange County Rent Stabilization Ordinance for your decision. The smart vote is NO. Approval of this ordinance will not result in more affordable housing. It will result in LESS HOUSING. This article provides a real world example of the implications. Recent economic realities make it clear that restricting supply drives competition down and prices up. There are practical ways to realize more affordable housing in central Florida. These include expanding apartment friendly zoning, reducing building fees and regulations, and long term leasing of publicly owned land for private apartment development….

Commissioner Weaver’s initiative to enable short term rentals failed to move forward at yesterday’s commission meeting. Below are thoughts I shared with the commission. Please extend your thanks as well to: mayorandcommissioners@cityofwinterpark.org. Mayor and Commissioners, Thank-you to commission members Cruzada, DeCiccio, and Anderson for declining to pursue a change in our short term residential rental policy. Most telling were the comments by those in support of the changes. Each of them, including Commissioner Todd Weaver (2 years of forbearance is meaningless), has a significant, and some, a professional financial interest in enabling short term rentals in Winter Park. Well, its…