Winter Garden seeking grant for trail realignment project

Winter Garden is considering a plan to make a section of the West Orange Trail safer.

After hearing several complaints, Winter Garden began to explore the feasibility of realigning the trail between North Park Avenue and the entrance to city hall’s parking lot, Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said.

“The most dangerous part of the West Orange Trail is right out here because it forces you to come down the middle of our downtown and then you have to cross over Plant Street,” Bollhoefer said. “We’ve had many people complain about it, so now we’re trying to fix that. The project begins, as you’re pulling out of the city hall parking lot in the far west, where that oval is located. It takes that oval and some land over here and combines it all to a large rectangular area. So the project will take space that is really not usable right now and make it into an active and large downtown park area.”

The project, which is still in the preliminary planning stages and has not received city commission approval, seeks to realign 350 feet of the trail and modify the surrounding area of that trail section to create an event/park area, Bollhoefer added.

“This plan ... runs it down the middle of the road and modifies the property west of it and forms one giant rectangular park area for the city,” he said. “So if you were to have big events in the future, such as our (Winter Garden) Blues & Barbecue, you’d be able to fit anywhere 10,000 to 15,000 people. So it’s a unique set-up.”

The city is currently working on obtaining a $200,000 state grant to help fund the first phase of the potential project, which is estimated to cost about $400,000, according to city documents. The total estimated cost of the project would be about $2 million, Bollhoefer said.

IN OTHER NEWS

▪ Winter Garden city commissioners passed the first readings of ordinances 19-08 and 19-09, which concern pension plans for firefighters, police officers and general city of Winter Garden employees. The ordinances seek to implement changes required by the internal revenue codes. The second reading is anticipated to take place Feb. 14.

▪ The city approved a site plan regarding a 32-acre property located at the end of a cul-de-sac on 1185 Elboc Way. The site plan allows for the addition of three new silos, the removal and replacement of eight liquid storage tanks and the moving of asphalt millings to new parcel.

▪ Commissioners authorized staff to make amendments to the future land-use section of the Winter Garden Comprehensive Plan, which identifies the city’s long-range intentions with regard to future development. The amendments will be made to Policy 1-1.2.7, Policy 1-1.2.8, Policy 1-1.2.10, and Policy 1-1.2.14. According to the agenda, the amendments are needed to ensure the policies reflect the regulations the city adopted in Ordinance 17-06, which pertains to the East Plant Street Character Area.