Supermajority vote now necessary

A supermajority vote is now necessary to change the future land-use codes in Winter Park's Comprehensive Plan, after the City Commission voted in favor of the change at a meeting on Jan. 25.

"It's the type of security that the residents are looking for," Commissioner Beth Dillaha said. "The citizens just want a little more certainty and a little more stability for those changes."

But a charter amendment on the March election ballot will give that choice to the city's voters, which could immediately cause a conflict between two city laws.

As of the Jan. 25 City Commission vote, city land-use code changes would require four members of the five-seat Commission to vote in favor of the change. If one member of the Commission isn't present during a vote, the remaining commissioners would have to be unanimous to pass the change. Previously only a simple majority vote of the Commission was necessary to transmit a comprehensive plan change for state review.

Commissioner Karen Diebel said that undermines land owners' ability to modify their property, and could slow some changes dramatically or stop them completely.

"This creates a tyranny of the minority," she said. "If three commissioners want to allow a change, but two don't, then they can stop it. It puts the city and land owners in gridlock."

Former Mayor Joe Terranova agreed.

"It's going to do the opposite of what you want to do," Terranova said. "You're giving power to a minority of commissioners to stand in the way of what you want."

At a Jan. 11 meeting Commissioner Phil Anderson had proposed that the city put the change to the voters in the March election. Anderson, along with Dillaha and Commissioner Margie Bridges voted in favor of putting it into law on Jan. 25.

Dillaha said that there's already precedent for areas such as Winter Park to have supermajority votes for land-planning changes.

"In Collier County and Naples, they already require it," she said. "They have something special there that they want to protect."

A dozen charter amendments may be on the ballot this election, two of which could determine how easily the city makes legislative changes.

A related charter amendment would mandate that a majority of the physically present Commission vote in favor to pass any ordinance. If a member of the commission were absent during a vote, three of the four remaining commissioners would need to vote in favor of an ordinance to pass it. Currently only a simple 3-2 majority vote of the Commission is necessary to pass an ordinance.

Come March 9, the city will know whether the voters want the changes. The votes will only need a 50.1 percent majority to pass.