Winter Park City Talk

Aug. 25 City Commission meeting highlights

If you were unable to watch or attend the City Commission meeting held Aug. 25 in the City Hall Commission Chambers, below are a few highlights of decisions made at the meeting:

Mayor’s Report

• A presentation was made recognizing Full Sail University’s SPARK Program and their production of the city’s newest webisode showcasing the city’s “Pools & Playgrounds.” All city videos can be viewed on the homepage of the city’s website by clicking on the “more videos” button.

• Artist Sarah Ali was recognized for her “Art in Chambers” exhibit.

Consent Agenda

• The minutes of Aug. 11, 2014, were approved with an amendment.

• The contracts and formal solicitations were approved (for a complete listing, visit cityofwinterpark.org/ccpackets).

Action Items Requiring Discussion

• The request of Unicorp National Developments Inc. to temporarily utilize the Hillstone overflow parking lot located at 231 S. Orlando Ave. was approved.

• Various items in the proposed budget were discussed and approved to be included in the budget public hearing items in September.

Public Hearings

• The request of Fatigati Enterprises to split the property at 2525 Temple Drive into two single-family lots was approved.

• The first reading of the ordinance vacating and abandoning the easement located at 1870 Laurel Road was approved.

• The second reading of the ordinance amending the Comprehensive Plan related to goals, objectives and policies text within the Future Land Use Element related to the Planned Development Future Land Use designations; combining the PD-1 and PD-2 Future Land Use designations; deleting the maps indicating the candidate areas for Planned Development Future Land Use and deleting the parameters for the creation and establishment of Planned Development zoning districts and other policy text relating to Planned Development Future Land Use, was not adopted.

• The ordinance amending Section 58-71 “General Provisions for Residential Zoning Districts” to establish rear and front setbacks for single family residential properties with shallow lot depths; and Section 58-67 “Low Density Residential (R-2) District” to correct a single family dwelling coverage error and modify certain miscellaneous residential provisions in Sections 58-65 and 58-66 was tabled.

• The first reading of the ordinance amending Section 62-77, Loitering – Generally, was approved.

A full copy of the Aug. 25 City Commission minutes will be available at cityofwinterpark.org the week of Sept. 8, pending approval by the City Commission. Remember, if you are unable to attend the City Commission meetings, you can watch them live, gavel-to-gavel as they happen. During the meeting, simply log on to cityofwinterpark.org/cclive to easily stay tuned-in to official city business.

CoffeeTalk featuring Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel

Don’t forget to attend CoffeeTalk featuring Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 8 a.m. for conversation and a cup of coffee provided by Palmano’s Cafe, Coffee & Wine Bar. CoffeeTalk will be held at the Welcome Center located at 151 W. Lyman Ave. For more information, please call 407-599-3428.

Congratulations Fire Chief Jim White

Winter Park Fire Chief James E. White was presented with the Fire Chief of the Year Award from the Florida Fire Chiefs’ Association (FFCA). The award was presented at the FFCA’s annual Summer Executive Leadership Conference in Fort Lauderdale. This is the highest honor the Florida fire service can bestow upon one of its chief fire executives. The award was conceived to recognize truly outstanding fire chiefs whose acts and deeds in their profession, home, community and country, serve as an example and challenge for all other chief fire executives throughout the state.

Award selection criteria includes leadership, innovation, professional development, integrity, service to the public, and contributions to the fire service as a whole. Nominations from across the state were reviewed by the award committee consisting of the previous three award recipients. Chief White will serve on the award committee for the 2015 award selection process.

According to Chief White, “Being nominated for this award is an honor. To me personally, being selected says more about the fire department than it does about the individual fire chief. Being nominated by my staff and recommended by my peers throughout the state makes me tremendously proud. It is truly a blessing to lead my firefighters and to serve the city of Winter Park.”

Established in 1900, Winter Park Fire-Rescue is a full service fire and emergency services agency, internationally accredited, providing the highest insurance services classification public fire protection classification. Firefighters respond annually to an average of 4,500 requests for service with comprehensive fire and code compliance activities helping maintain an extraordinarily low-dollar loss from fire as well as and a well-maintained community environment.

To leash or not to leash

— Leashed pets are always welcome in all city parks except Central Park.

— Leashed or unleashed pets are not welcomed in areas used for personal recreation of families and children. These include places such as restrooms, athletic fields, playground areas and picnic pavilion areas that are located in these public parks:

• Cady Way

• Dinky Dock

• Howell Branch Preserve

• Kraft Azalea Garden

• Martin Luther King Jr. Park

• Mead Botanical Garden

• Orwin Manor Park

• Phelps Park

• Ward Park

— Unleashed pets are always welcome in Lake Baldwin Park off-leash area.

— See Section 18-14 of the city’s code that addresses other specific locations where pets are prohibited.

City Hall closed

City Hall will be closed on Monday, Sept. 1 in observance of Labor Day and will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, Sept. 2. Household garbage, yard trash and recycling collection services will not be provided and will resume normal services on the next regularly scheduled collection day.

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