Neighbors decry plans for expansion
When Chris Killer moved into his home in west Seminole County about 15 years ago, a small business along the banks of the nearby Wekiva River offered little more than canoe rentals and refreshments.
“I was there when it was a broken-down, nothing marina with a guy selling beer and soda out of a cooler,” said Killer, who lives along Miami Springs Drive near Wekiwa Springs State Park.
Since then that small business has been replaced by the popular Wekiva Island — an entertainment complex that opened in late 2008 and attracts hundreds of visitors on summer weekends for volleyball, daytime music, canoeing and a riverside bar.
But Wekiva Island also has long drawn complaints from nearby residents, including Killer, who say that the noise, traffic and alcohol sales are destroying their neighborhood.
Now a plan submitted to Seminole County by the owners of Wekiva Island to add a restaurant, nighttime outdoor music, camp sites, a pavilion and allow up to three times more people on their nearly
Bill and Mary Weinaug, owners of Wekiva Island, say they are willing to work with nearby residents to control traffic and limit the amount of noise from their business.
6-acre site is further raising the ire of nearby residents.
“The amplified music is too loud,” said Lorien Prince, a member of the nearby Sweetwater Springs HOA board, in a written statement in response to questions from the Orlando Sentinel. “We cannot sit on our screened porch by our fire pit without being forced to listen to whatever they are playing over the loud speakers. … I am concerned that allowing more people, longer hours and more special events will have an enormous negative impact on my property values.”
Bill and Mary Weinaug, owners of Wekiva Island, say they are willing to work with nearby residents to control traffic and limit the amount of noise from their business.
“We understand the community’s concerns, and we’re trying to figure out solutions,” Bill Weinaug said.
Last October, the couple asked Seminole County to amend their property’s zoning to allow the expansion, including building a restaurant.
County planning staff, however, kicked back the Weinaugs’ request by asking for more detailed plans and to explain how adding more development — including a new restaurant — along the shores of the environmentally sensitive waterway would not violate the state’s Wekiva River Protection Act.
Bill Weinaug said last week that he plans to submit new plans to Seminole County “within a month or two” that would address the county’s and residents’ concerns.
He no longer plans to add tent campsites.
He doesn’t plan to extend the outdoor amplified music beyond 6 p.m. as the county allows now.
And he plans to reduce the number of people allowed to about 500 rather than the 960 in his original request.
Seminole County now limits Wekiva Island to 260 people at any time, except during permitted special events.
He also plans to work with Seminole County to install traffic-calming devices on Miami Springs Drive.
“We understand that sound is an issue, and traffic is an issue,” Weinaug said. “We just need to come up with good solutions.”
The Weinaugs say their main objective is to add a restaurant to the upper floor of a two-story building on the property. The bottom floor is used as a bar, and the top floor is empty after a 2014 fire. The only access to the top floor is an outdoor step ladder.
“Having a restaurant is the biggest thing for us,” Bill Weinaug said. “This property has had restaurants — at one time or another — since the ’60s. And we have had countless ... people say it would be nice to have a restaurant. … But with a restaurant, we don’t want to close down at 7 p.m. That would not work out really well.”
The Weinaugs — who describe themselves as passionate environmentalists — bought the property for $1.4 million in September 2008.
For decades, various canoe outposts with waterside eateries and a rickety shack that sold bait and beer have sat on the property.
They installed environmentally friendly features, such as solar panels, rainwater cisterns and lowflow toilets.
Bill Weinaug was a member of the board for the Friends of the Wekiva River, and Mary Weinaug organizes monthly Wekiva River cleanups as part of Keep Seminole Beautiful.
“I happen to believe that having people come down and see what we’ve got here with the Wekiva River and having people see it and feel it and fall in love with it, will help protect it,” Bill Weinaug said.
Nearby residents say that they appreciate the Weinaugs’ commitment to the river and environment, but they say increasing the number of people allowed to visit Wekiva Island will add more traffic, more noise and will harm the river.
“There is a constant flow of patrons walking up and down Miami Springs Drive on the summer weekends, and those patrons dispose of their trash, such as beer cans on the property in front of our neighborhood,” said David Evelev, a Sweetwater Springs resident and HOA board member in a written statement to the Orlando Sentinel.
Within the past year, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office has responded to dozens of calls at Wekiva Island and Miami Springs Drive, including one for a drunk pedestrian, one for a lewd act, seven disturbances, nine cases of suspicious activity, three hit and runs, and 10 incidents of a sick person.
Killer says he is not opposed to Wekiva Island or any other small business renting canoes, selling beer and food along the shores of the river and teaching people about the environment.
“I think people should have access to that place,” he said. “I think people should be able to come down and rent a canoe or have a beer and something to eat. That’s fine. But they’re selling a party. They want people to have a loud party.”