Residents support Winter Garden annexation

Residents gathered in the halls of the City Commission Chambers on Thursday, Jan. 27, to speak out in support of an interlocal agreement between the city of Winter Garden and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners for the annexation of an east Winter Garden enclave. 

Community Development Director Stephen Pash said the agreement annexes the properties as well as the rights of way. The agreement also has requirements for Orange County to provide the city of Winter Garden with plans from previous projects. The maintenance of roads and ponds will be turned over to the city. 

Pash explained there is one portion in the agreement that requires the county to do what is known as the “East Bay Street Paving and Drainage Improvements” that allows the county up to five years to complete. 

Although the project will be funded, permitted, constructed and maintained by the county before it is turned over to the city, several commissioners and residents questioned why the project would take so long. 

“What’s the reason that this is going to take (Orange County) five years to complete the project, other than it’s the county,” Mayor John Rees asked. 

Pash said Rees’s statement was accurate. 

City Manager Jon C. Williams said he does not anticipate the project will take five years but the county wanted a bit of a buffer in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Commissioner Mark Maciel said the drainage in the area is a major issue, as he is told from calls by county residents even now. 

“When we annex, it will become our issue, so is there a vehicle to monitor this and at least make sure they’re making steady improvements?” Maciel asked. 

Pash said the city will have to continue to pester the county for the improvements; Rees asked if the city could do the work with the county reimbursing them. Pash said the question has never been proposed but the city could ask the county. 

“We know we would be able to do it much faster than they could,” Williams said. “We will certainly reach out to them before this item appears on their agenda.”

Maciel said he suspects the city could even do it cheaper than the county. 

Winter Garden resident Angelia R. Taylor-Dean said her family owned property on Trumbo Street and Christopher Street and for years they had heard about the possibility of being annexed. 

“Our parents that left us those properties, they would have pride and ownership of land and home, so if y’all come in there, we want to ensure that we, the older generation as well as the ones they’ve left it to, can continue to make sure that we leave that in a better place than they left it to us,” Taylor-Dean said. “So, anything y’all bring into there, we want y’all to give us the same pride and respect that y’all would do other communities and not take but help to enforce and ensure that we continue to have a community that we can say our parents left us and we can leave our generation.”

Beverly Jefferson, a resident of Christopher Street, said her family was one of the first families in the area of discussion. Her father, John Jefferson, worked with Joe Brown and others to get the city annexed. 

She said her family and others have waited a long time for the annexation and she is happy the city is honoring the agreement. 

“We are excited about finally coming into the city, because, like I said, my dad worked on this about 60 or 70 years ago. … It’s good that I will actually live to see this being done,” Jefferson said. 

Maciel made a motion to approve the annexation and the motion was carried unanimously by the commission. 

“(It’s a) long time in coming,” Rees said. 

VOTING DISTRICT BOUNDARIES

The City Commission heard a first reading on an ordinance regarding the city’s voting district boundaries. 

Districting Commission Chairperson Derek Blakeslee said the committee believes the map presented to the commissioners best accomplishes the goals of the commission and the goal of redistricting with minimal movement and fulfills the committee’s goal of “doing no harm” to the best of its abilities. 

Blakeslee explained this redistricting is due to the 10-year census in 2020 where the population stood at 47,000. 

The districts previously were adjusted in 2001 after the 2000 Census when the city population was at 14,350 and each district had 3,600 residents. 

The districts were adjusted again in 2008 because the city had grown to 31,000 residents. 

According to the city charter, if a district becomes 50% larger than the smallest district, then the city is required to redistrict. 

Blakeslee said the district and commission must follow the rule of the four districts because of the same charter. Within the city charter rules, the population was divided into four districts with the exceptions of not exceeding 5% or 1,000 people throughout the entire redistricting. 

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” he said. 

Blakeslee said he believes the committee hasn't split any neighborhood HOA organizations or census blocks and that all sitting commissioners have been kept in the same district in which they currently serve. 

The second reading and a public hearing will take place on a date to be determined.

IN OTHER NEWS

• Wendell Coates Jr. was presented with the Outstanding Citizen Award for his work in the community through Global Not Local.

• The second reading and public hearing was heard on a series of ordinances pertaining to voluntary annexation of .24 acres at 1010 Vineland Road. 

Pash stated at the Thursday, Jan. 13, meeting that the annexation was voluntary by the owner. Pash said the proposed ordinances are consistent with the surrounding area and the owner intends to apply for a special exception which would allow office use and development of the parking lot and pond. 

The motion was carried 3-1, with Commissioner Ron Mueller dissenting.

• Commissioners postponed to a later date a discussion on amending pensions and retirement for general employees, firefighters and police officers. 

• A purchase order for fire equipment for a new fire vehicle at Station 23 in the amount of $676,236 was approved. The apparatus will not be delivered until spring or summer 2023 at the earliest. 

• A traffic enforcement agreement between residences at Tucker Oaks and the city of Winter Garden was approved to allow police to enforce traffic laws inside the gated community. 

• The City Commission heard a reading of the city’s Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget totaling $50,696,365. The second reading and public hearing will take place at the Feb. 10 meeting.