Times& WEST ORANGE
Observer WEST ORANGE COUNTY’S NEWSPAPER FOR 109 YEARS
THURSDAY
JANUARY 29, 2015
FREE
WINTER GARDEN, FLORIDA
INSIDE
ARTS & CULTURE
SPORTS
Florida crowns its Distinguished Young Woman. PAGES 8-9A
“Peter Pan” production reaches new heights at West Orange High. PAGE 13A
Young players anchor CFCA basketball team. PAGE 1B
LIFE PILOT by Zak Kerr | Staff Writer
OUR TOWN
development by Peter M. Gordon | Contributing Writer
Commissioners revise downtown parking plan
+ Scott appoints four to district Gov. Rick Scott announced three appointments and one reappointment to the West Orange Healthcare District. Norma Sutton, 68, of Windermere, is a retired business executive. She succeeds James Shaw and is appointed for a term beginning Jan. 23, 2015, and ending Sept. 24, 2018. Cheryl Miller, 56, of Windermere, is a community volunteer. She succeeds Carolyn Sawyer and is appointed for a term beginning Jan. 23, 2015, and ending Sept. 24, 2018. Leslie Cervenka, 60, of Windermere, is the vice president of Cervenka Developments. She succeeds Roniece Weaver and is appointed for a term beginning Jan. 23, 2015, and ending Sept. 24, 2018. Mark Griffith, 58, of Windermere, is a certified financial planner with Griffith Financial Services. He is reappointed for a term beginning Jan. 23, 2015, and ending Sept. 24, 2018.
+ County to host special evening Orange County Parks and Recreation will host a Masquerade Ballthemed Daddy-Daughter Dance from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7, at the West Orange Recreation Center, 309 S. West Crown Point Road, Winter Garden. The dance is open to girls in grades kindergarten through sixth only. Pre-registration is required. Cost is $25 per couple plus $10 for each additional daughter. Cost includes a photo, dinner and refreshments. Glamorous attire is suggested but is not required.
+ Ocoee native earns accolade Ocoee native Ashton Judy was named to Belmont University’s fall semester dean’s list.
I
WO This week’s winner is
Katie Grosso.
See the photo on PAGE 5B.
The revised plan includes a two-story, three-level garage and expanded lots.
SKY’S NO LIMIT U.S. Air Force Col. Harlie Bodine has been able to show aircrafts to his family.
Courtesy photos
Harlie Bodine, a West Orange native, was promoted to U.S. Air Force colonel at a promotion ceremony Jan. 24. WINDERMERE — A desire to fly and a journey of more than 25 years has led to the promotion of West Orange High School graduate and Windermere resident Harlie Bodine to colonel in the Air Force, which became official with a ceremony at 4 p.m. Jan. 24, at St. Luke’s Methodist Church on Apopka-Vineland Road. Major Gen. Ken Wilsbach, director of operations for U.S. Central Command, directed the promotion ceremony. In July, Bodine will begin his assignment as commander of the 611th Air and Space Operations Center at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. This center consists of three divisions developing directives, plans and procedures for Alaskan combat and support forces assigned to the Pacific Air Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. These divisions lead rescue operations, provide tactical support, maintain air
WINTER GARDEN — City commissioners approved a revised plan to address the downtown parking crunch. Last August, the commission, acting as the Community Redevelopment Association, committed $6 million to build a three-story, four-level garage on the open-air lot on Tremaine Street. That lot would add 478 net spaces to downtown to address a situation that City Manager Mike Bollhoefer said could be “detrimental to economic development” in downtown. “When people don’t perceive they have enough parking, they stop coming,” he said. The new plan calls for a two-story, three-level garage, expanded lots on Main and North Boyd streets, and additional street parking. This new plan spreads parking options through more of downtown and adds a net of 442 spaces. “It’s a very good compromise,” Mayor John Rees said. “This will benefit the city the most going forward.” Rees cast the lone vote
SEE PARKING / PAGE 6A
IN OTHER NEWS
• The commission passed on second reading an ordinance to increase impact fees for future development. City Manager Mike Bollhoefer began the meeting with a slide presentation outlining the city’s different revenue sources, including taxes, fees and impact fees. Because Florida has no state income tax, he said impact fees are the primary way local governments in Florida pay for the cost of infrastructure required by growth and development. The ordinance raises impact fees for single-family residences from $1,271 to $2,130 for fire, police, and recreation. Increases for fees for other dwellings, such as trailers, and for offices and other commercial development will be less. For example, the recreation impact fee for a single-family home will
COMMISSION / 6A
education by Zak Kerr | Staff Writer
After judgment, path to relief high school reamins unclear
sovereignty and conduct air defense operations for the region.
A LONG JOURNEY
From his start with the Air Force as a cadet in the Air Force Academy, Bodine has had plenty of trials and travels in the military. When he first reported on June 29, 1989, for six weeks of basic cadet training before starting the school year early, his top goal was to be a pilot, he said. “Once you go through the decision of military aviation, the AF offered the best flying education and all that,” Bodine said. But when Bodine graduated in 1993, he did not see things the same way. “It has been four long, miserable, ridiculous, stupid years,” he wrote upon graduation. “I came here wanting to be an aeronautical engineer, all-American baseball player,
“To say thanks to people who have been there since the first day is really the reason we do promotion ceremonies. Yes, you want to honor the individual and rank, but it’s really to say thanks to the people who made it all happen.” — U.S. Air Force Col. Harlie Bodine
SEE PILOT / PAGE 6A
Multiple schools will be needed to relieve overcrowding at West Orange High. The school district already owns several sites. WEST ORANGE — Although the recognition that relief high schools are necessary for West Orange High School seems universal, how and where to proceed remain issues of debate and legality, with no relief likely to occur before 2017. Ninth Circuit Judge Alice L. Blackwell ruled that a special exception must be allowed for a relief school on a 66-acre site on County Road 535 owned by Orange County Public Schools in the West Windermere Rural Settlement, but that the terms of an exception are dictated by
Orange County. A point of contention some members of the school board, county commission and rural settlement are trying to work out is how a school developed on this site would comply with Florida Statute 1013.33, part of which states: “If the site is consistent with the comprehensive plan’s land-use policies and categories in which public schools are identified as allowable uses, the local government may not deny the application but it may impose reasonable
SEE SCHOOL / PAGE 4A
INDEX Arts & Culture.......................13A Classifieds..............................7B
Community Calendar..............2A Crossword...............................5B
Pilars is 2! January 29, 30, and 31 PILARS MARTINI CELEBRATES SECOND ANNIVERSARY
Weekend of
Martinis, Music & More!
Vol. 82, No. 5 , Two sections
History..................................12A Obituaries.............................17A
Sports.....................................1B Weather..................................5B
Thursday, Jan. 29 7-11 pm
Friday, Jan. 30 11 pm-2 am
Saturday Jan. 31 10 pm-12 am
Saturday, Jan. 31 8-11 pm
Saturday, Jan. 31 11 pm-2 am
Kelly D. Richards on piano & Billy Flannigan & Trudie Peterson host Singers Open Mic
Friday, Jan. 30 8-11 pm
Michelle Amato, sings, joined by Chris Rottmayer on piano, Thomas Damon on drums, and Ben Kramer on bass.
Live DJ & Congo
It’s homecoming night. Join Per Danielsson on piano, Tamara Danielsson on sax, Doug Matthews on bass, and Thomas Damon on drums
WOTimes.com Codorníu Fireball Special Live DJ & Congo
407-369-8900 146 W. Plant St. Ste. 120 Winter Garden