Winter Park City Commission meeting set for Aug. 14

It's a heavy agenda for Winter Park City Commissioners on Aug. 14 as they take on a number of significant items.

Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ordinance

Winter Park City Commissioners will conduct a second reading on Monday for a new ordinance that would ban medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits.

They will be pondering their approach to medical marijuana dispensaries in the wake of Gov. Rick Scott signing the medical marijuana bill into law. The state legislation on medical marijuana preempts any local regulations in place, but does give cities the opportunity to ban dispensaries if they choose to do so, City Attorney Kurt Ardaman said.

Unless the facilities are banned outright though, the city has no control over where the dispensaries go or how many of them can be established in the city, Ardaman said.

The first reading was passed unanimously withe exception of Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel, who believed the state voters had spoken and that local municipalities should acknowledge that desire.

“Seventy-one percent of the voting public said we should make medical marijuana legal,” Sprinkel said. “It’s hard for me to vote against 71% of the public. I voted on what I believe. I believe that my job is to make (medical marijuana) available to the public. It’s not about me.”

Howell Creek Wetland Purchase

Winter Park City Commissioners will decide whether to purchase 55.6 acres of natural wetland during their Aug. 14 meeting. The purchase would give the city an opportunity to preserve a wetland while giving residents a new natural park space.

The land is made of seven parcels surrounding Howell Creek just north of Howell Branch Road, with 12.2 acres located in Maitland and the rest located within Winter Park city limits.

That mass of wetland currently belongs to two property owners. About 32 acres belong to JBC Land, while the remaining land is owned two-thirds by JBC Land and one-third by resident Jerry Banks.

The opportunity to buy the natural land came as a result of a state grant being put toward the purchase last year. However, city leaders have had this wetland on their wish list for at least 10 years, City Manager Randy Knight said.

“This has been on the city’s legislative agenda for years,” he said. “Years ago, we identified that as a potential park plan for the city. We already own the Public Works Compound up there and the gun range along Howell Creek. Years ago, the commission in a strategic planning session thought this would be a good idea.”

Bowling Alley Property Purchase Offers

Commissioners will also examine six offers for the former Bowl America property at 1111 W. Fairbanks Ave.

Last year Winter Park used CRA funds to purchase the piece of land just west of the Walgreens that sits at U.S. 17-92 and Fairbanks Avenue. 

Its appraised value sits at $2.96 million, but some residents believe the city should hold on to the property due to its close proximity to Martin Luther King Jr. Park to the north, though a portion of Comstock Avenue between the two properties would have to be vacated. 

At a public meeting on May 2 for the park’s pending master plan, three groups of residents illustrated their own vision of the park on a map.

Two of the three groups suggested building a new softball field on the former bowling alley property to make space for more amenities in the park. 

City Commissioner Peter Weldon said the money acquired from the sale of the property should go toward improving existing park space instead. 

Mayor Steve Leary agreed that a sliver of road along Fairbanks Avenue doesn’t make sense as park land.  

“It’s a commercial corridor, it’s too small to turn into a playing field and we’re not going to vacate streets that serve other businesses to have a patch of green in the middle of our commercial corridor that people really can’t walk to,” Leary said.