City mulls historic district signage

Street closing for on-street dining could expand beyond Hannibal Square, and an ordinance to woo drivers with a “Winter Park Historic District” stalled at Monday’s Commission meeting.

The city had been experimenting since February with European street café-style dining along Hannibal Square in between Hannibal’s and Armando’s restaurants by closing the street to traffic in the evenings. During that time, city staff reported “no major problems” in a compiled report about the experiment so far. The Commission was unanimous about its approval on May 14.

Commissioner Steven Leary said that he hadn’t heard any complaints about the dining since it was enacted, and said it could be used to help nearby businesses.

“Other businesses could see more foot traffic from it,” he said.

With the pilot program a success, staff proposed allowing on-street dining that could potentially be anywhere in the city, as long as it’s on a low-traffic street, adjacent to a restaurant, and nearby business owners give the OK.

“I was really pleased,” Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said, but with a caveat about noise that she still worries could become an issue with other locations. “There’s no doubt it’s going to bring more diners to our restaurants. But pre-existing residents should be able to expect a good night’s sleep.”

The proposal implies that it was tailored for restaurants just off Park Avenue, notably Cocina 214 off of Welbourne Avenue. Restaurants on East New England Avenue and East Morse Boulevard may be left out of on-street dining, as the item only allows it on streets carrying less than 1,000 cars per day or that would see little traffic impact at night.

Between five and 10 streets in the city could be potential new locations for on-street dining based on the set criteria, but it would depend on approval from staff and nearby businesses.

Historic sign stalled

An attempt to draw in more historic tourism stalled when commissioners questioned whether visitors should be beckoned into the city through one of its least-historic entry points.

A resolution requesting the Florida Department of Transportation to change Winter Park’s exit sign on Interstate 4 to say “Winter Park Historic District” was too premature, Leary said, considering Fairbanks Avenue’s current condition.

“I would be disappointed as heck to be dumped off on Fairbanks expecting to see a historic district,” Leary said.

He recommended waiting until the city beautifies the Fairbanks Avenue business corridor before drawing tourists into the city from the west.

“I think we need to do a better job of cleaning the place up before we dump people off there,” he said. “There needs to be more planning.”

Leary also noted that the proposal would have removed the previous sign informing drivers of the Winter Park exit, replacing it with the less clear historic district designation.

Before the issue was tabled, Mayor Ken Bradley said that the city should work on identifying its historic district and creating way-finding signs to help visitors to locate it.

“I think very few people could identify what that is,” Bradley said. “My concern was once you get off I-4 and we direct you to the Winter Park Historic District, where is it?”