Winter Park debates who should help preserve city history

Who should sit on Winter Park’s Historic Preservation Board?

A proposal from Winter Park Mayor Steve Leary to appoint three new members to the Historic Preservation Board was shot down on Monday by three City Commissioners, who said they wanted to prevent new members from swaying the city’s new historic preservation ordinance possibly in favor of redevelopment.

The conflict broke out when Mayor Leary’s recommended former Orange County Commissioner Bill Segal, local architect Phil Kean and local resident Laura Armstrong to be new members of the Historic Preservation Board.

Commissioners Tom McMacken and Carolyn Cooper were hesitant to bring in new members while the board was 18 months into revamping the city’s historic preservation ordinance, which has fallen under much scrutiny from residents after the historic Capen House nearly fell to the wrecking ball back in 2013.

“I’m not sure I want to change my pitcher in the ninth inning,” Commissioner Tom McMacken said.

McMacken, Cooper and Commissioner Greg Seidel voted against appointing the would-be members.

Commissioner Greg Seidel questioned the decision to appoint architect Phil Kean as a member of the board, due to his background of demolishing older structures to build new ones. The other candidates didn’t seem to have any historic preservation experience either, he said.

“When you look at what Phil Kean does, he’s a very good contemporary architect,” Seidel said. “It’s a historic preservation board, so I don’t know what he’s done with regards to historic [preservation]. What I know is he’s taking down a couple houses and putting in some contemporary houses. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t know how it relates to historic preservation.”

Leary defended his decision to appoint Kean, claiming he has the right background for a seat on the board.

“Phil Kean went to Harvard, he’s got a Harvard education,” Leary said. “I can tell you that what you learn in architecture school… I know what they go through. They go through the history of architecture, they go through the history of design.”

“I think he’s more than adequately educated and experienced to understand what is historic and what’s not historic.”

Friends of Casa Feliz Executive Director Betsy Owens spoke out with a similar stance to Seidel, adding the appointment would be an insult to many residents.

“I don’t want to be personal on these appointments either, but if you’re looking for a conciliatory group, you’ve selected the person whose occupation seems to be to find historic homes in Winter Park to knock down and replace with modern homes,” Owens said. “That’s neither here nor there, but that’s a pretty direct slap in the face of the preservation community.”

“These are not people that have a demonstrated heart for, experience in or interest in historic preservation. Those are the kind of people I believe need to be serving on our city’s Historic Preservation Board.”

Owens also spoke about the importance of completing work on the new historic preservation ordinance.

“If you send this back to open it all up again, I agree that it’s never going to get accomplished,” Owens said.