Winter Park sets new vision in motion

A clear vision means a clearer view of the road ahead. But what does the vision look like for Winter Park?

Winter Park set its eyes on the future for decades to come last Monday as the City Commission voted to accept a new vision – a series of statements that guide the city when crafting new policies.

A 21-member steering committee chosen by the City Commission presented their crafted vision to City Commissioners during their meeting last week, concluding a 13-month long process that included one-on-one dialogue with community members, surveys, keynote speakers, focus groups and neighborhood gatherings. More than 60 meetings were held to discuss the city’s vision, with almost 12,000 residents participating in visioning events.

The proposed overall vision for the city was, “Winter Park is the city of arts and culture, cherishing its traditional scale and charm while building a healthy and sustainable future for all generations.”

Four vision themes were also presented, which included “Cherish and sustain Winter Park’s extraordinary quality of life; Plan our growth through a collaborative process that protects our city’s timeless scale and character; Enhance the Winter Park brand through a flourishing community of arts and culture; and Build and embrace our local institutions for lifelong learning and future generations.”

“This vision is to inform public policy, it’s not to create public policy,” Steering Committee Chairman John Gill said. “We were charged to create that vision for the City Commission and staff to inform public policy, to inform the comp plan, to inform the land use plan.”

“We [tried] to come up with as robust and rich as a vision – while reflecting the community – as possible.”

Gill added that the committee had to tackle several difficult topics, including the decision that Winter Park is not a town or a village, but a city with a “small town, village feel.”

“The greatest thing, for me personally, that came out of this was that 21 diverse individuals from across the city and across the political spectrum were able to come together and create a good package,” Gill said. “The intensity that we all feel for this city is guided by us caring. It just takes a little listening to realize we’re all in the same boat and we’re all in it together.”

But some residents weren’t entirely pleased with choice of wording in the vision. Many locals who came forward to speak during the meeting took issue with the lack of the word “heritage” in the vision, fearing that the city isn’t prioritizing its roots.

“I feel very strongly about including the word “heritage,” resident Mary Daniels said.

“It’s always been a city of ‘culture and heritage’ – it should still be there.”

Resident Penny Potter spoke about her recent trip to France, admiring how the country still holds true to its heritage and history though buildings hundreds of years old.

“Our hotel was built in the 1300s, and yet on the inside it had all of the amenities of a first-class hotel,” she said. “It was such a pleasure to see historic preservation on such a grand scale. With less than 150 years of history that we have, it just doesn’t seem that Winter Park has gotten it right yet.”

Commissioner Carolyn Cooper agreed with the concerns expressed by residents, making a motion to table the item to have the committee revisit the vision, as well as another motion to add “heritage” to the vision, but both motions failed.

City Commissioner Peter Weldon said that it’s wrong to change the vision after the committee spent the last 13 months hashing it out.

“I just want to make it clear that there is nothing in this document that any resident of Winter Park should fear,” Weldon said.

“To rewrite the words at the last minute after a year of effort and the money that’s been spent and the energy that’s been accepted is simply not honoring the process. There is no downside to accepting what has been offered here.”

The City Commission unanimously voted to accept the new vision, which became effective immediately.