Letters to the Editor

City needs to re-examine Fairbanks project

Winter Park recently rolled out its long-awaited plans for the redevelopment of Fairbanks Avenue from Interstate 4 to U.S. Highway 17-92. I have chided and challenged the city for several years to address this blighted corridor and eagerly looked forward to the day I could drive this gateway to the city with pride. The process to get us to where we are today was quite protracted, the seemingly final obstacle being a ‘negotiation’ with FDOT over bike lanes! Unfortunately, the city is a day late and a dollar short; we missed the wave. But all is not lost; we have plenty of time to catch the next one.

I reviewed an advanced copy of the traffic improvements some months ago and was underwhelmed. I was expecting something much more grand. And then I started reflecting on a similar program from more than a decade ago by the city of Orlando, Narcoossee Road improvements, which despite a much greater effort than that proposed by Winter Park, remains an unsatisfactory, unfulfilled investment. Winter Park must not believe that they will have greater success with less effort and sacrifice. And that effort and sacrifice has a cost that we may not want to bear; not now.

The two main challenges facing the successful redevelopment of Fairbanks are the physical constraints of the corridor and the recession. In boom times, it may have been sufficient to bring sanitary sewer to the corridor — it’s currently on septic systems — and spruce up the corridor with a landscaped median. But, today, a paucity of development dollars resulting from reduced demand and huge investor losses are being sought by a large number of ‘depressed’ owners — the ones who now regret having held out for top dollar — in a number of competing areas: Horizon West, downtown Orlando, Lake Nona, Innovation Place and our mayor’s favorite, the SunRail corridor, with the smart money going to the Medical City. Does SunRail go there?

Drive down Fairbanks and what you won’t see is a lot of deep pockets. The city, now, wants to charge these properties an assessment; future developers sewer impact fees; and the rest of us with a bond debt to underwrite the improvements. The end game, of course, is tax revenue.

Unfortunately, these properties are quite expensive to develop. The parcels are postage stamp-sized with fragmented ownership; on the north side, they abut residential neighborhoods; the city has an expensive code for stormwater treatment on redeveloped property; and there are access issues — a live or die requisite for successful commercial properties.

Compounding (and confounding) the challenge is the premise of the funding mechanism. The lion’s share comes from a bond ($3.4 million). Then there’s the assessments ($1.4 million); sewer impact fees collected only upon anticipated development ($1.7 million); previously budgeted general revenue, which hopefully has not been double-dipped ($1.4 million); and then the state is supposed to ante up some money ($1 million or so).

Let’s learn from Maitland’s similar effort and not make the same mistakes. With the promise of redevelopment — and a developer on board who is now in bankruptcy — Maitland’s taxpayers invested heavily. Those improvements and their associated debt sit awaiting a return of the economy and — drum roll please — SunRail, while the interest clock runs with principal payments looming. Boy, five years goes by fast.

So I implore you to tell your mayor and City Commission that they need to take a real hard look at the project and learn from other jurisdictions (Orlando, Maitland and Seminole County). Tell them how you feel about taking on bond debt. We cannot move forward without a stakeholder buy-in, and most importantly, if we’re going to do it, do it right and at the right time.

—William Shallcross

Winter Park

Incubation programs require many partners

Economic gardening and business incubation programs rank among the fastest growing economic development strategies in the U.S.

All across the country, local communities are looking to business incubation programs to help self-start local economies plagued by recession and unemployment. Business incubation programs serve local economies by helping local entrepreneurs establish and grow their companies at an accelerated pace, with accompanying job growth.

It’s important to note that successful business incubation programs work best as a part of a larger overall economic development strategy. By themselves, business incubation programs — even very successful ones — aren’t enough to stimulate substantial regional economic growth without an overall entrepreneurial ecosystem to support companies at different stages of their development.

Successful business incubation takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people. It requires a network of partnerships with local government, local businesses and local institutions, public and private investment, and a consistent approach to assisting companies.

But business incubation has clearly proven itself a viable, cost-effective economic development strategy that can benefit most local communities and regional economies.

The University of Central Florida’s Business Incubation Program has helped more than 150 companies. We currently serve 100 client companies at facilities in Orlando, on the UCF campus and in Winter Springs, Sanford, Leesburg, St. Cloud and Kissimmee. More than 40 companies have graduated, many with enviable records of revenue growth and job creation.

As we search for ways to improve our economies, a strategy to “grow our own” deserves our highest priority.

—Dr. Tom O’Neal

Founder and executive director of the UCF Business Incubation Program