Maitland Council to vote on first downtown proposal

With an affirmative vote from the Maitland City Council on Thursday, the lot where the old decrepit Winn-Dixie resides could finally be getting a makeover – rising from the ashes into a mixed-use six-story apartment building.

An eyesore for more than a decade, residents say they won’t be sad to see the existing building go, but many disagree on what should replace it.

Resident Roxanne Johnson is leading the charge to convince the Council to decrease the amount of density allowed in the downtown, adding an emphasis on the importance of green space and pedestrian safety. Johnson presented a petition to reinstate the city’s old city hall site as a park signed by 813 residents at the Council’s last Oct. 13 meeting. She and other residents plan to picket with signs out front of City Hall prior to Thursday’s meeting.

Other residents say they are looking forward to the increased downtown density, arguing that the downtown district has limited space and needs to be utilized properly as necessary to create vibrant retail center for the community.

“We have enough parks,” resident Butch Charlan told the Council on Oct. 13. “But what we don’t have enough of is frontage to put retail.”

David Lamm’s proposal, which is up for vote on Thursday, includes constructing 220 apartment units, an estimated 42,000-square-feet of retail space, a 503-space parking garage, and a 41-space surface parking lot on the land currently occupied by the old Winn-Dixie and New Traditions Bank Plaza bordering it to the north. The Council will vote on the proposal in a special meeting on Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.