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WEST ORANGE TIMES
WOTimes.com
IN OTHER NEWS • Commissioners approved unanimously a site plan for Plant Street Market at 426 W. Plant St. Community Development Director Ed Williams said, “This is a project we’re all very excited about.” • The commission postponed until Sept. 11 the second reading of an ordinance to rezone about 14.14 acres of West Orange outparcels near Winter Garden Vineland Road to planned commercial development. The developer agreement wasn’t signed in time for the commission to consider the matter at this meeting. • Commissioners passed on its second reading an ordinance to rezone about 10.475 acres south of SunRidge Boulevard, north of Black Lake, east of Avalon Road, and west of Siplin Road from city No Zoning to city R-1 single-family residential. Williams said it wasn’t financially feasible to develop more than one house on the property. It contains some environmentally protected wetlands, and it’s very difficult to run sewer and water lines there. The developer intends to market it as an estate. • The commission approved unanimously to enter into a fair-share agreement with Tilden Groves Holding Corporation to help fund the cost of making SunRidge Boulevard a four-lane road. • Commissioners approved unanimously entering into a mitigation agreement with the Orange County School Board and Sift Oaks Investment LLC for Canopy Oaks Subdivision. The developer agreed to pay $98,813 in mitigation fees and $319,500 in capacity reservation fees over time because West Orange High School is over-capacity. • The commission approved unanimously a site plan for the Shoppes at Lake Butler to build a 3,288-square-foot retail/ bank building and a 2,000-square-foot restaurant with drive-thru.
MAYOR / PAGE 1 Later in the meeting, Community Development Director Ed Williams said he wanted to make a personal comment before he presented his business to the commission. He thanked the mayor for the respect he showed U.S. veterans by escorting Richardson out of the meeting.
DOWNTOWN PARKING GARAGE
City commissioners took a big step toward shaping the future of downtown Winter Garden at their Aug. 28 meeting. They voted 5-1 to authorize spending $6 million of Community Redevelopment Association funds to build a three-story, four-level parking garage on the site of the downtown parking lot on Tremaine Street between Boyd Street and Lakeview Avenue. Rees voted against the project. Because the commission was acting officially as the CRA at the time of the vote, CRA Chairman Larry Cappleman was allowed to vote, which accounts for the six votes. More than 50 people attended the meeting, and many applauded after the measure passed. “It’s a great thing for the city and will lead to economic development for decades to come,” said Commissioner Bobby Olszewski. During the commission meeting on Aug. 14, City Manager Mike Bollhoefer and Cappleman cited the lack of easily available parking as one of the biggest obstacles to downtown’s growth and sustainability. The CRA board unanimously recom-
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
mended the Tremaine Street location prior to the Aug. 14 meeting, and the Downtown Merchants Association and Garden Theatre sent letters of support. Rees originally favored a location for the garage on the north side of downtown. In response to a question from Olszewski, Bollhoefer outlined some obstacles in that area. The city does not currently own the land and would have to negotiate with the property owner or use eminent-domain power to take it. The site also may have environmental issues that could delay construction. Winter Garden already owns the Tremaine Street location, and because a parking lot already exists on that site, Bollhoefer said there likely would be no environmental issues that could derail development. Commissioners Bob Buchanan and Kent Makin spoke in favor of the Tremaine Street location. Resident Tim Maddalena, who lives near the Tremaine Street location, spoke against the garage at both commission meetings. “The garage will be as big or bigger than City Hall,” he said,. “It will be the south side’s largest building. Who is the CRA? There are two people in the CRA that own buildings bordering the north side of the parking lot. This may be legal, but this smacks of a conflict of interest.” Maddalena also argued that the city didn’t need the additional parking. Nick Farrell, who lives on Lakeview Street one block away, said he was concerned that the garage would be a “large, not frequently used structure.” He said he expected there would be more light and noise but that he understood that “we all bought into this when we bought near downtown.” Bollhoefer said part of the plan for the garage included alterations to the surrounding streets to improve traffic flow while minimizing light, noise, and impact to local residents. Bollhoefer said if the street improvements were bundled with the garage, the total cost would be in the $10 million range, and the city would be eligible for up to $2 million in tax credits from the state. The plans include active community spaces in and around the garage to attract pedestrians. Walker Parking Consultants will be hired to prepare and distribute the design/ build documents and help the city manage the bid and construction process. Commissioner Makin said a growing downtown will bring more revenue into the city and enable the commission to keep millage rates low.
CITY BUDGET
The meeting opened with a workshop on the proposed fiscal year 2014-15 budget, conducted by Finance Director Laura Zielonka. The city expects revenue to rise to more than $28 million in the next budget year — mainly due to increases in ad valorem tax revenue and increased intergovernmental revenue resulting mainly from increased sales tax revenues. The city did not increase taxes. Orange County’s property appraisals showed property values in Winter Garden increased by about 10%. Sales tax revenue also increased. Bollhoefer wrote in his budget summary to commissioners that the 2014-15 budget was projected to be $28,040,890. Winter Garden spends 50% of its budget on public safety. Bollhoefer plans to hire four additional police officers next year and build another fire station to serve its growing population. The city also plans a 3% costof-living increase for its employees. Employees can expect a 6% rise in their health insurance costs. Parks and recreation had the largest percentage increase of any department, due to the capital expenses required for the Tucker Ranch Heritage Park and improvements to Little League fields, Braddock Park and other sites.
SCHOOL / PAGE 1 In addition to serving as a school, the structure was the headquarters for the local board of trade, and a women’s club, Union Church, polling place and social meeting hall. Outside of the building are a well and a citrus grove that are as old as the schoolhouse. And in the back stands a 1930s New Deal, Works Progress Administration outhouse. Now, town officials are getting closer to obtaining a durable, two-sided sign that will help tell the story of this historical treasure. “(The schoolhouse) might be one of the oldest buildings in Orange County,” said Theresa Schretzmann-Myers, secretary of the Windermere Historical Preservation Board. Although a temporary sign outside of the building lists the structure as being from 1890, research has found that its back to at least 1887. The 1887 Historic Windermere Schoolhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Schretzmann-Myers spent the last two years at the Orange County Regional History Center, in Orlando, finding documentation on the schoolhouse. The records were needed to apply for a $1,055 grant from the Florida Department of State Division of Historical Resources, Bureau of Historic Preservation. If approved, the grant will pay for half of the $2,110 cost of the sign, and town funds would pay the other half, Town Manager Robert Smith said. He said officials could find out in a couple of months whether the grant application has been approved. If it is, the sign could be ready for installation sometime next year, Smith said. The Historical Preservation Board is raising money to rehabilitate the interior of the schoolhouse, purchase a hand pump for the original well and replenish the citrus grove. The overall site is less than an acre. Town officials and board members hope to later host field trips for local students to the schoolhouse, where the children will learn what it was like to attend school in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For example, students back then used to sit on orange crates while learning their lessons, Schretzmann-Myers said.
SIGN LANGUAGE
Side one of the sign would
WHAT IS HABITAT? Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that “every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live.” There are more than 1,400 local affiliates in the United States and more than 70 national organizations around the world. Habitat has helped to build or repair more than 800,000 houses and serve more than four million people worldwide. Families receiving a Habitat home are expected to invest hundreds of hours of “sweat equity” in building their house and others.
HABITAT / PAGE 1 Orange, Phillips spent two years as the development officer for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Orlando, successfully completing several fundraising projects that raised more than $250,000. She’s eager to do the same in West Orange County, where 29 houses have been built for low-income families in Winter Garden and Oakland. In 2015, the local Habitat has committed to building four houses, two of which will be in partnership with St. Luke’s United Methodist Church of Windermere. The church has pledged $250,000 during
Courtesy photo
In this 1890 photo, children and adults pose next to the 1887 Historic Windermere Schoolhouse. Mike Sheen, who provided the photo to the Windermere Historical Preservation Board, said the girl standing on the right in the back row is his grandmother, Jessica Sarah Griffin (her later married name was Jessie Griffin Sheen). She was the daughter of Lawrence Jefferson Griffin and Julia Elizabeth Clarke Griffin. include details about the schoolhouse’s building materials. For example, “Local people built the board and batten structure of locally milled heartwood from the Florida Long Leaf Pine and installed a metal roof,” according to Preservation Board information. “Early teachers educated generations of settlers and town builders within these humble walls.” The first students were in grades K through 12 and the children of citrus grove owners, workers and farm hands, the marker would explain. The building stopped serving as a schoolhouse in 1916, when the larger schoolhouse complex was built at the corner of Main Street and Sixth Avenue. Side two of the sign describes how, in 1918, Lloyd and Minnie Armstrong acquired the schoolhouse and surrounding property from real-estate developer Cal Palmer. The Armstrong family created a cracker-style structure by attaching two sleeping wings and a broad covered porch, and the schoolhouse became the heart of their home as the kitchen and dining room. Eight of the nine Armstrong children, including John Armstrong’s father, were raised here. John Armstrong’s aunt, Eunice Armstrong-Parramore, acquired the property after the death of her parents, and she and Manual “Perry” Parramore deeded it as a historic legacy to the Town of Windermere in the
the next five years and will help build two houses a year on the east side of Winter Garden. Two homes are underway on Bethune Avenue. The framing is up on the first house, for Pamela Fikes, her daughter and her granddaughter. Down the street, a lot has been cleared for Naomi Carbajal and her son and daughter. Phillips, an Apopka resident, will manage the organization at an office in Oakland; she said she is excited to work in the town. Oakland officials expect to break ground in late September on a new version of the Little White House on Tubb Street near Town Hall. The original building was demolished last year, after it was determined renovations would be too costly. The town and West Orange Habitat are partnering to construct the building, which will be used as Phillips’ office, as well as public space for concessions, restrooms, a small office and a large room to be used for conferences or to display art or historic artifacts. This space also will be used for Habitat officials to meet with families that are receiving a house and to host classes. All families must take 20 homeowner-education workshops as part of their agreement. “This will give us a chance to engage with families on a more regular basis,” Phillips said. “We can also meet with businesses or people who
1980s. The additions were removed in 2000, and the structure was restored to its original form. In 2011, residents successfully campaigned against a plan — supported by most of the Town Council — to move the schoolhouse between the library and Town Hall. Schretzmann-Myers said some of the council members claimed the schoolhouse would be safer and more visible in the new location. But the real reason they supported the move, she said, was because a developer of a proposed plannedunit development wanted the original schoolhouse site for a parking lot. On Jan. 3, 2012, Windermere voters overwhelmingly passed a charter amendment to preserve the schoolhouse at its original spot.
LOOKING BACK
John Armstrong, council liaison for the Historical Preservation Board, said his father — also named John Armstrong — was the only one of the nine Armstrong children who was born in the schoolhouse/home. “He was born in 1921, in the addition,” he said. “The rest were born in North Carolina.” Armstrong recalled his aunts and uncles telling stories of how they loved growing up in Windermere because of the seven lakes that surrounded them. “Back then, Windermere was even less built up,” Armstrong said. “But the schoolhouse wasn’t really impres-
DONATIONS WANTED One of the easiest ways to help the local Habitat is by donating unwanted items to the West Orange Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 114 S. Dillard St., Winter Garden. The store generates income to pay Phillips’ salary and build more houses. Donations can include furniture, housewares, gym equipment, appliances and building supplies. “If anyone is renovating their home, we’ll take toilets, cabinets, anything they’re getting rid of, to sell in the Restore,” Phillips said. “We never put them in Habitat homes; they get new items.” Hotels and restaurants have given furniture and materials to Habitat after remodeling. When a local hotel donated a pile of safes, she said, they sold within 20 minutes of putting them on the floor. want to learn more about Habitat. We’re making West Orange Habitat open to the public.” As executive director, Phillips is charged with fundraising and making sure Habitat International’s guidelines are followed and the mission statement is carried out. “We fit our focus on what
sive to them. It was their kitchen, and it wasn’t really historical.” The possible relocation of the schoolhouse in 2011, however, stirred something inside him. “That’s when I got involved in politics,” said Armstrong, who began his first two-year term on the council in 2012. “We fought to keep it on its historical site. That was my family’s purpose (in donating the property to the town).” Windermere native Roger Seidner, 88, said his father and former Windermere Town Council Member, Frances L. Seidner, attended school at the 1887 schoolhouse for about two years, from around 1913-1915. “His sister and her husband had the first store in Windermere,” Seidner said. “He was staying with them when he went to school. It was small, but probably more efficient than some of the schools that we have now.” Seidner’s mother, Jessie White-Seidner, taught at the larger 1916 school from 1927 to 1930 and from 1936 until she retired in the 1960s. Roger Seidner attended the 1916 school and served as pastor of the old Windermere Union Church from 1968 to 1988. “(The preservation of the schoolhouse) means more to the Armstrong family,” Seidner said. “I have had memorial services for half a dozen members of that family.” Contact Tony Judnich at tjudnich@wotimes.com.
WISH LIST Phillips has a long list of needs for the West Orange organization: • Board members and community leaders who want to get involved in Habitat • Partners and corporate sponsors • A general contractor interested in donating his or her services to build the Habitat office in Oakland. • Donated lots or houses or lots that can be purchased. • Vehicles • Someone with ideas for revamping the ReStore to make it more customer-friendly. • Females to participate in next spring’s Women Build campaign. “In Orlando, I raised $160,000 with about 300 women, and I know the women of West Orange can do better,” Phillips said.
that particular area’s needs are,” she said. She’s looking forward to getting in her new office and recognizing the West Orange affiliate’s 25th anniversary. “We’re going to celebrate all year long,” she said. Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at aqrhode@wotimes. com.