Sprinkel, Womble to debate for Winter Park seat this week

Election day for seat two on the Winter Park City Commission this Tuesday draws near as candidates Sandy Womble and City Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel continue to push their campaigns to gain voter support.

Sprinkel and Womble will have the chance to rake in more votes today as they engage in a public forum at the Winter Park Public Library at noon.

The Observer spoke with both candidates prior to the candidate forum to get their insight on some of Winter Park’s pressing issues and endeavors.

Winter Park City Commissioners voted last Monday to move forward with a four-month period actively negotiating for a minor league baseball team in Winter Park. The city’s has been looking into a stadium for more than a year now, and the feasibility of the project still remains in question.

A public forum between Sarah Sprinkel and Sandy Womble starts at noon today, March 6, at the Winter Park Public Library. Winter Park’s municipal election is Tuesday, March 11. Visit cityofwinterpark.org for a list of voting locations.

The City Commission and staff are eyeing four potential locations for a new ballpark: Rollins’ Harper Shepherd Field, Martin Luther King Jr. Park, the incoming Ravaudage development, and the Votech property owned by Orange County Public Schools along U.S. Highway 17-92.

Womble saw a new baseball team as a positive opportunity, but didn’t want to lose any green space in the process.

“I think the devil’s in the details,” Womble said. “Some of the issues concern me, like the Martin Luther King Park being used. I’m not in favor of putting a ballpark there … That park belongs to the people that live here, not private enterprise.”

Baseball could certainly bring an economic boost to the area, Sprinkel said, but funding the construction for a new stadium remains one of the biggest challenges. The cost will not fall on the backs of local taxpayers, she said.

Winter Park residents didn’t hesitate to open their wallets for one historic cause last year. The local community’s effort to save the Capen House from the wrecking ball brought historic preservation into the spotlight, leaving residents questioning the city’s approach with designating historic buildings.

Winter Park should do whatever it can to bring more properties into the city’s historic register, Womble said.

“The lack of plaques around the city as part of our important historic properties is quite frankly embarrassing,” Womble said. “That’s something I’d work on. Central Park is a historic park and it would be great to have a plaque there.”

But Sprinkel didn’t believe the historic designation process should be rushed, despite the outcry from residents that historic landmarks are being lost.

“There’s a process we need to go through and we need to honor that,” Sprinkel said. “Just because somebody doesn’t agree with that doesn’t mean we need to hurry up and rush. I don’t go with this ‘the sky is falling,’ Chicken Little idea.”

The state of Winter Park’s tree canopy has also put the City Commission under scrutiny. A steadily growing number of dead trees and falling limbs prompted the city to reevaluate its tree ordinances.

City Arborist Dru Dennison told City Commissioners last October that between 10,000 and 13,000 trees need to be cut down for safety reasons.

The responsibility of maintaining trees along neighborhood roads falls on residents, but an Urban Forestry Management Plan passed in January could change that, Sprinkel said

“I certainly would never be in favor of the residents continuing to be responsible,” Sprinkel said. “People out there think the city has been responsible and they haven’t been.”

“Some of the residents can’t take care of them. Whether they can’t, won’t or whatever it is, the reality is we need to make sure this tree canopy is here forever. In order to do that, we have to make some changes.”

The city should be entirely responsible for maintaining the tree canopy, Womble said.

“I’d be in favor of retuning that right to the city and not placing that burden on the citizens,” she said.

Other changes might be necessary to boost business along Park Avenue, where most merchants are forced to keep their doors open year-round to make ends meet.

“The slower summer months are just awful; they really are terrible,” said Womble, who formally owned an art gallery along Park Avenue called Palm House Gallery.

“The trademark for Park Avenue is the individual boutiques and eateries. We need to work to protect them and promote them…I think the rent is too high in certain parts of the Avenue.”

Sprinkel said she too remembers first coming to the Avenue in 1972, back when merchants kept their doors open for only nine months out of the year.

This year’s election proves more difficult than previous years, Sprinkel said. The election ballot doesn’t include any charter amendments or other items – residents will only be voting on the City Commission seat. An expected 2,500 absentee ballots may also complicate the counting process.

The two women will need to work that much harder to gather support and bring out voters, Sprinkel said.

“You can’t ever sit back and think ‘Oh, if I just did one more thing’ or ‘What if I had just walked one more neighborhood or called one more person,’” Sprinkel said. “That’s what keeps you going.”