Winter Park face Goldilocks gridlock when it comes to development

The Lakeside Crossing development set to be built on the Mt. Vernon Inn property took another step forward on Monday as it received preliminary approval for a scaled-back version – a vote that prompted further discussion of when larger developments should get the green light.

Lakeside Crossing would sit along U.S. Highway 17-92 and include four restaurants, four retail spaces and provide at least 315 parking spaces to help supplement the busy Winter Park Lakeside Plaza — with the high-traffic Trader Joe’s grocery store — across the street.

But Unicorp’s latest proposed development in Winter Park has been considerably downsized since it was first presented. The project was originally shown to residents last July as a 170-unit apartment complex and parking garage with retail and restaurant space mixed in.

Former Winter Park Mayor Joe Terranova said the development has become a disappointment since the City Commission requested the project be scaled-down due to its large size. The project could have instead been the city’s first planned development – one of mixed-use buildings of larger size, he added.

“What we have here is a nice design, but it’s a strip mall,” Terranova said. “It doesn’t add anything to the character of Winter Park. It doesn’t do anything for 17-92. It’s same old, same old.”

Mayor Ken Bradley said he agreed.

“The process we’ve done here is feeling a little bit like Goldilocks,” Bradley said. “[The first project] was too hot and frankly this is too cold.”

“I’ll vote for this because it was asked for, but our process and our ordinances have led us to something that isn’t just right.... This project could be so much more.”

Winter Park’s latest addition to U.S. Highway17-92 may not be what some had hoped for, but Unicorp President Chuck Whittall said most importantly it won’t be a project where residents have trouble finding parking – an issue that became notorious with the Winter Park Lakeside Plaza.

Whittall added that before Winter Park can build planned developments, the city needs to decide what it wants. An uproar came from residents last year when the City Commission considered a change to the comprehensive plan allowing planned developments along any four-lane road outside the box of Fairbanks, Interlachen, Pennsylvania and Webster avenues.

A showing of 140 locals bearing “no density” signs during their Aug. 25 City Commission meeting drove Commissioners to hold off on passing the ordinance.

The city’s view of planned developments, and the feasibility of building one in Winter Park, has become an issue, Whittall said.

“You have a broken issue with [planned developments] in this city,” he said. “We loved our previous plan, but the city doesn’t know what it wants.”

“Change is tough, and Winter Park is going through change.”

Whittall said the project should come back for a final approval from the City Commission in time for a potential groundbreaking in April.