Businesses are shortchanged in Orange Avenue Overlay decision
In recent weeks and months the Sentinel has covered news updates about an exceptional and visionary framework for new development in Winter Park, the Orange Avenue Overlay District.
The adopted Overlay would create a multitude of new experiences including shopping, dining, outdoor art and parks, not to mention much needed tax revenues for the City of Winter Park and jobs for the citizens, especially in this postcoronavirus era.
After 15 months of widespread community participation and three years of rigorous process along with significant public input, the Winter Park City Commission approved and adopted the Orange Avenue Overlay. City employees spent countless hours meeting with a committee appointed by the previous city commission.
The review process demonstrated that the plan would benefit every property owner and business, large and small, within the designated area on Orange Avenue, and a majority supported it.
In a time when developers should be commended for providing additional parking, connectivity, transportation improvements, more green space and long needed stormwater treatment on Orange Avenue, yet now with the new commission, in the height of the quarantine and only 21 days after the March 9 approval of the overlay, an attempt was made to reverse the decision to move forward as planned.
This effectively put the revitalization of Orange Avenue and all the benefits that come with it on hold to the detriment of the citizens of Winter Park. Not only would Winter Park have had a new entrance into its city with the revitalization of blighted buildings, but businesses up and down the avenue would have enjoyed additional parking, safer and more efficient intersections and connectivity, and improved stormwater retention and treatment that does not exist today.
Throughout this process and public commentary, what became clear yet disturbing was the light shed on the idea that the property owners and businesses within the overlay do not hold as much clout as the no-growth residents. Businesses within this commercial corridor are the ones being most directly impacted by this initiative.
Why should they be treated like second-class citizens, only here to serve at the pleasure of the vocal minority?
Business is the vital engine of any economy, providing goods, services and jobs, yet it takes a community to build a business. The two are interdependent and rely on each other to thrive. We are all neighbors. It’s up to all of us to help small businesses succeed, now more than ever before. We are now living in a new and unfortunate reality at a time when tax revenues are going to be so badly needed and jobs are being eroded at an unprecedented rate. Opportunities for exceptional growth must be evaluated in the context of these new circumstances.