Letters to the Editor

Deal with it

The Winter Park City Commission is elected by the community to serve the community. Regardless of which group elected them, once in office, their responsibility is to serve the entire community, not any one particular constituency.

Winter Park voters have voted twice to approve commuter rail in Winter Park and a stop in Central Park. This vote represents the will of the community. Further, this past year, the community defeated the referendum proposal to require a supermajority to change the Winter Park land-use plan.

It is time for the City Commission as a group to respect and represent the will of the entire community. The community supports commuter rail, and the community supports a simple majority to change or modify the land-use plan. Deal with it.

For SunRail, the only reasonable action by the Commission is to work on the means to pay for it in the future. Trying to stop commuter rail in Winter Park is not what the community approved, therefore, all the commissioners need to find ways to make it work. It is not their job to finds ways not to do it. No personal agendas are acceptable. Deal with it.

For the "no" vote, if the commission really wants to bring the community together, they will vote 5-0 to follow the will of the community, which is to not have a supermajority vote to change the land-use plan. Heal the community and show that you understand that elections have consequences. If it is not your personal preference, deal with it.

Minding the store is a commendable value. Closing the store as a way to save money for the community is not a solution. Commissioners Beth Dillaha and Carolyn Cooper have signaled their intent to eliminate SunRail in Winter Park. Does it eliminate the expense issue? Perhaps. Does it serve the will of the voters? No.

City Commission: Please follow the mayor's lead. He is working with the county and other officials to shape a means to pay the future operating costs of SunRail. He is taking the responsible route. Please consider the community vote and follow his lead.

—Jeffrey Blydenburgh

Winter Park

Fake farmers threaten AG law

On April 10, an editorial was published in the Orlando Sentinel titled "Don't widen loopholes for developers to exploit" regarding a proposed change to Florida's Greenbelt law — better known as the AG law.

As Orange County Property Appraiser, I have had to challenge some commercial landowners on their agriculture classification — none of whom were in the agricultural business. They just wanted the huge tax break that comes with an agriculture classification.

The agriculture tax classification was created to help those in the farming business from the encroachment of urban land uses that would have raised their land values (and taxes) to a point unrealistic for the survival of an agricultural business.

Now however, developers and land speculators posing as tree, goat and cattle farmers want the benefit of an agriculture tax break while they bank their land until the time is right for development or resell. This posturing endangers the integrity of Florida's AG law and ultimately places all of Florida's legitimate farmers at risk.

This practice forces my office to spend taxpayer's money to challenge these sham agricultural pursuits — not for the purpose of collecting additional tax revenue but rather to protect the integrity of the agricultural classification.

Commercial landowners holding land for future development should pursue their tax breaks "through the front door". If the Legislature desired to grant such tax breaks, they could create a new land classification for these owners.

Don't encourage these property owners to hide under the pretence of being farmers. This makes a mockery of the Green Belt Law and endangers the legitimate farmers.

—Bill Donegan

Orange County Property Appraiser