On December 14 commissioners, McMacken, Cooper, and Seidel voted to make the 50%+1 neighborhood voting threshold to form a historic district the law in Winter Park. Mayor Leary and Commissioner Sprinkel objected to the law and voted no. All members of the commission acknowledged, either directly or through their silence, that the law has nothing to do with history and everything to do with controlling residential redevelopment. I addressed the commission prior to the final vote as follows (click image to view video) (text of my comments below): I rise again to object to this law. Historic preservation is good….
Category: Districts
Post related to Winter Park law regarding Historic Districts.
Results of November 9th Historic District Vote
The city commission voted 3 to 2 to lower the voting threshold to form a historic district from the current 67% to 50% plus one. Those voting for this change are telling you that your rights are less important than the collective opinion of your neighbors and that of a city board whose legal charter excludes consideration of your rights. Carolyn Cooper, Tom McMacken, and Greg Seidel voted for 50% plus one. Sarah Sprinkle and Steve Leary voted to leave the threshold at 67%. There will be at least two more votes on the Historic Preservation law. You can continue…
Hold Your Elected Officials Accountable This Monday
The city commission will consider the proposed historic preservation law this coming Monday, November 9th at City Hall after 5 PM. It is important that those opposed to this ordinance make their presence known and felt. Your presence will make a difference. I both summarize and detail my objections to the proposed law in the following letter sent to the commission today. ____________________________________________ November 5, 2015 Mayor and Commissioners, I have pushed back on the proposed historic preservation law as it addresses historic districts because the language in the law is wrong for Winter Park. The law also works against…
Speaking to the Character and Quality of Winter Park.
This post shares a response to Jack Lane’s opinion piece on Winter Park Voice from October 15th. The author requests anonymity. I recommend every Winter Park resident read Jack Lane’s opinion and this reaction to it. (Ad Hominem means attacking the character or motivations of someone you disagree with rather than addressing the facts or reasoning underlying their position or argument.) The only thing that is constant is change. -Heraclitus Professor Jack Lane is a well known, well loved, and obviously brilliant historian and long-time resident of our beloved city of Winter Park. His short essay displays a glimpse of…
More on the Politics of Historic Preservation
The following provides background related to my recent email arguing against the Historic District language in the proposed Historic Preservation law up for public comment at city hall October 7 at 9 AM and 5 PM , and to be considered by the city commission on November 9th. Please consider attending one or both of the October 7th meetings to argue against the Historic District aspects of the law. The revised proposed law includes technical improvements, especially as they relate to voluntary agreement of owners to propose their property for inclusion on the Winter Park Register of Historic Places. We…
Defend Your Rights – Attend October 7th Meeting
Strident Historic Preservation advocate Betsy Rogers Owens says, “I’m not here at all to put a hard sell on anybody” while she tries to enable historic preservation oversight for all improvements to your property. The city is seeking public comment on another proposed revision to our Historic Preservation law at both 9AM and 5PM on Wednesday, October 7th in City Hall Commission Chambers located at 401 S. Park Ave. Please consider attending one or both of the October 7th meetings and argue against the Historic District aspects of the law. Does the Historic District law apply to my property? YES. The…
Improving Winter Park Historic Preservation
As I have noted in previous writing (here and here), historic preservation policy for private properties in Winter Park needs to offer meaningful incentives and be less threatening to encourage voluntary participation. Current policy and the proposed draft both compel private owners into compliance with a deeply flawed “historic district” policy. Current policy requires a 66+% vote of neighbors to compel participation of 100% of properties within a proposed district. The draft policy proposes to reduce this threshold to 50+% resulting in even more likely neighborhood fights and related legal action. When a critical mass of our 8,500 single family…
Update on Historic Preservation Ordinance
The agenda for the Historic Preservation Board meeting of July 8th includes the schedule for further consideration of possible changes to the existing ordinance as follows: August 12 – Historic Preservation Board regular meeting with draft ordinance review (citizen group comments may be available at this meeting) September 9 – Historic Preservation Board regular meeting, receive and final recommendations from the citizen group Community Forums in late September October 7 – Special Historic Preservation Board meeting to consider any amendments October 14 – Historic Preservation Board regular meeting to approve the ordinance and final report November 9 – Ordinance amendment…
Re-Thinking Winter Park Historic Preservation
The Historic Preservation Board will be having a work session (no public comment) on Wednesday, June 17 at 6 PM at city hall to discuss the draft ordinance and input from the May 7th public meetings. Click here to email members of the Historic Preservation Board (HPB) and ask them to re-think the current draft ordinance. “Especially in politics, any relationship between the effect of policy, the goal of policy and the stated goal is often incidental to the point of randomness.” Holman Jenkins Jr. In this post I analyze the stated goals, actual goals, and the effects of our current…
Winter Park Residential Zoning History (overview)
The following is a brief history of Winter Park single family residential zoning resulting from my research of the zoning code and discussions with city staff. Residential zoning in Winter Park started in the 1930’s (before that you could build anything). From 1930 to 1985 criteria limiting the size of a home was primarily a 35% footprint, meaning a two story home could have as much as 70% floor area. In today’s terms (Floor Area Ratio) a typical 13,000 square foot lot could have a house with as much as 9,100 square feet. As a practical matter there was no limitation….