Letter to the editor

Recently developer Dan Bellows proposed to the Winter Park City Commission a plan for his Ravaudage development a so-called “Interlocal” agreement, which would return to his development 50 percent of all taxes collected by the city for the next 30 years. Mayor Ken Bradley pronounced the plan dead on arrival, as well he should.

In one of the most asinine statements I have ever heard from a public official, Commissioner Steven Leary opined, “Fifty percent of something is better than 100 percent of nothing. If it doesn’t get developed, it’s going to be an eyesore and contribute nothing to the tax rolls.” This sounds like a grocery store buy-one-get-one free deal! Guess who would pick up the other 50 percent of the costs – the rest of Winter Park taxpayers. Doesn’t the full taxation on a property represent the cost of providing city services to that property? Maybe the deal should then include providing just 50 percent of all city services, i.e. putting out one of every two fires or answering every other call to law enforcement.

Next, he said, “If it doesn’t get developed...” Is it reasonable to believe that absolutely nothing would be built on these 73 acres over the next 30 years? Mr. Bellows got his Community Development District, similar to what many other communities have approved. Let his development stand on its own two feet. If it is a viable endeavor, and I have every reason to believe that Mr. Bellows and his financial backers have confidence that it is, it neither needs nor deserves an extravagant handout from the city.

If reasoning such as this is the best that Mr. Leary has to offer, the citizens of Winter Park can only hope for the next election to get here before this commissioner can do any more damage to our city.

Richard Rudy

Winter Park