Aloma Avenue townhouse project tabled in Winter Park

Winter Park residents had the chance at Monday’s City Commission meeting to speak up on a controversial project that would add 18 two-story townhouses along Aloma Avenue. 

The project included townhouses at the 1.81-acre cluster of properties located at 1791, 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1835 Aloma Avenue — all sitting at the northwest corner of the intersection of Aloma and Lakemont avenues.

Anticipating backlash from residents concerned about traffic and density, project owner Andrew Ryan detailed a few alternative plans for the project. One version only had 15 townhouses, while another split the properties into six single-family lots and eight townhouses.

However, none of these appeased the dozens of residents who attended the meeting. They still feared the already-overbearing traffic at the intersection of Aloma and Lakemont avenues would be made worse.

“I live on Sylvan Drive, which is three blocks from here on the north side of Aloma,” Beth Hall said. “I don’t care which incarnation he does, you’re putting my street right there next to that intersection. … How does this happen?” 

Residents mostly wished to see the land used for its original zoned use: an office building.

City Commissioner Carolyn Cooper expressed a similar sentiment about holding true to the Comprehensive Plan, adding that an office building would help the city’s tax base.

“When I look at our Comprehensive Plan, it says we will preserve the single-family residential character of both the planning areas that this particular property straddles,” Cooper said.

City Commissioner Sarah Sprinkel sympathized with the concerns from the residents.

“My biggest concern as you well know is traffic and what this is going to do to people behind these homes,” Sprinkel said. “That’s what I’m looking at.”

The commission voted to table the project, so the owner could reevaluate and approach the commission with a new plan.

Winter Park shapes new library/event center

Winter Park City Commissioners also voted to make a few changes to the library and event center set for the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Park —an effort to keep the project under its $30 million budget.

Upon examining a breakdown of the cost, City Commissioners realized several additional features, such as the porte cochere (about $1.06 million), the rooftop venue (about $2.6 million), an exterior amphitheater (about $577,000) and a raked auditorium (about $471,000) put the project over budget.

The cost of construction was estimated at about $23.8 million, while the remaining gap up to $30 million would pay for the “soft costs” such as architect fees and furnishing the building.

City Commissioner Carolyn Cooper expressed disproval the total budget including soft costs wasn’t presented to them at the meeting.

“My comment simply remains always having a complete budget from this point forward,” Cooper said.

The City Commission voted to do away with the design of the raked auditorium. However, it will explore costs for the porte cochere, the exterior amphitheater and the rooftop venue.