Maitland Council hosts first meeting in new chamber

The grand opening of Maitland’s new City Hall will be from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30. For more information on this event and other ongoing projects in Maitland, such as FlexBus and the Atlantic Housing Project, visit itsmymaitland.com

With the hit of the gavel signaling the beginning of the Maitland City Council meeting on Monday, the city marked itself one step closer in its progress to revitalization.

The Maitland City Council gathered in its new chambers for the first time, Aug. 13, marking the completion of the seven-year, $8.5 million project to build the city new fire and police stations and a city hall.

“This is a big deal,” Mayor Howard Schieferdecker said, as he got the inaugural meeting under way.

Building off enthusiasm from the opening, Council members got to work looking toward the future of what’s next on the list to continue toward the city’s goal of downtown revitalization.

Senior housing project planning continues

Everything is moving along for the affordable senior housing project, dubbed Uptown Maitland, planned for the corner of U.S. Highway 17-92 and Lake Sybelia Parkway, Community Redevelopment Director Verl Emrick said.

Qualms were raised at last month’s meeting regarding the taxability of the development, and Emrick said an open dialogue is continuing with the builders, Atlantic Housing Partners, to iron out any concerns over current plans meeting the original developer’s agreement from 2003.

“If all the parts aren’t there, then the application to move forward will not move forward until they’re produced,” Emrick said.

Principals from Atlantic Housing Partners have asked to continue this dialogue with Council, arranging for a special presentation on current plans at the next City Council meeting, Aug. 27.

FlexBus moves along

City transportation lobbyist Louis Rotundo said he is continuing to work with Lynx and the Florida Department of Transportation to iron out what’s in the cards as plans for the intelligent transportation system FlexBus continue to roll out.

“The person that puts up the money is the one who determines what this system will be… at the end of the game, there is really a question if this is a system for Lynx or a system for a private provider,” Rotundo said.

Currently, those in agreement to fund the system, which will provide non-routed, individualized bus routes throughout Central Florida, are Altamonte Springs, Longwood, Casselberry and Maitland. A demonstration project for the system is currently in the works to launch in 2013. The system is proposed to provide riders with service within 12 minutes of their request by cell phone or computer, and also be a large contributor to the future of the SunRail commuter rail system.

Cost and implementation, Rotundo said, are still two variables yet to be nailed down for FlexBus. In current plans, Maitland is allocated to pay roughly 12 percent of the system’s cost, which was originally slated to be around $150,600. As plans continue to evolve, including Lake Mary showing interest in joining the demonstration, Rotundo is now estimating that number may be closer to $400,000. But he says a final figure isn’t likely to come about until early next year.

“I wouldn’t have gone this far down the road if I didn’t think this system had a significant trial of success… as far as implementation goes I remain to be convinced we can provide 12-minute service to everyone,” Rotundo said.

But success of FlexBus, Councilwoman Bev Reponen said, is something the city is counting on for the success of other downtown projects and substantially for the future of SunRail.

“We all know it has to work or else nothing else is going to work,” she said.