Windermere High School’s on-campus stadium a go

Come next football season, Windermere High School students, parents, staff and families will be getting their longtime dream — a football stadium on campus.

The Orange County Commission approved the on-campus stadium at its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 24.

The school’s off-campus football stadium — built more than a mile down the road from the campus at Deputy Scott Pine Community Park — has had a multitude of complications since it opened in 2017.

Now, just as most other public high schools, more than 3,100 Wolverine students will host home football games and other events onsite.

The new stadium is expected to seat up to 1,850 people and will cost about $3 million to build on the existing practice field on campus on Winter Garden-Vineland Road.

The stadium is estimated to be ready come August 2024. 

District 4 School Board Member Pam Gould believes the on-site stadium is a win, win situation.

“I’m thankful that the county and Commissioner (Nicole) Wilson were willing to relook at this situation once we all realized it just didn’t work for the school or the community,” she said. “It’s really going to help to build the culture and the pride the students have in the school. For the community, it’s going to be so much better because it will take some of that traffic and congestion off of the road, it will provide adequate parking, it will become safer; it’s really a win, win all the way around.”

THE DETAILS

Applicant Christoper Mills, representing Windermere High School, requested the amendment to the special exception in the Rural Country Estate zoning district to allow for the construction of the on-site stadium at the school.

The Future Land Use of the property, located at 5523 Winter Garden-Vineland Road, is RS 1/1 — West Windermere Rural Settlement.

The 64.9-acre property is situated north of Winter Garden Road, southwest of Lake Butler and south of Lake Butler Boulevard.

Proposed improvements at the site would include new visitor bleachers and relocated home bleachers for a total of 1,852 seats, as well as a new 1,800-square-foot building that would house a ticket booth, restrooms and concessions. 

Other additions would be a new second basketball court, the relocation of the long jump and several storage containers on site, and four new LED light poles around the field to replace six existing poles. The plan would leave the existing high jump and basketball court in place.

There are 860 spaces at the high school as compared to the 205 at Scott Pine, requiring no proposal to modify any of the existing parking onsite.

Hours of operation for the school would not change. The cutoff for daily practices would be 8 p.m., non-school-related events at 8:30 p.m. and football games by 11 p.m.

The proposal has 19 conditions of approval, including that the stadium and related improvements shall be installed within five years of final action on the application by Orange County or the approval is null and void. 

Other conditions call for the number of seats in the bleachers to not exceed 1,852, caps on the stadium lighting at 80 feet in height and to also incorporate automatic timers or shut off timing, as well as limits on noisemakers, speakers, game hours, use of the stadium for events and landscaping.

MORE THAN JUST A STADIUM

Staff mailed out 822 notices to adjacent property owners in a 2,000-square-foot radius and received 80 in favor and 22 in opposition.

Deawn Hughes, who lives in Tildens Grove, which backs up to the school, does not believe the sounds from the stadium are compatible with the community. 

“You may hear people say they need to move the high school stadium back to the high school; I’m opposed to it,” she said. “Here I am again 10 years later. If we can just work with the current site, there’s a lot of property there, if we can work with the current site to make it work, great. You might hear from some of the high school students. The high school students will use that high school for four years maximum. I have been living in Tildens Grove for (more than) 20 years. I plan to be there for another 20 years. Please vote no.”

Louis Tavares, who lives across the street from the proposed site, said although he is not opposed to the project, he asked the commission to impose some realistic restrictions.

“My neighborhood has people (who) go to the school; there’s some who are very opposed to this because like that lady (Hughes) said, it is going to be a big change to our nightly routines,” he said. “From my conversations with the principal, we’re not only talking about a football game from 7 to 11 p.m., we’re also talking about track meets, soccer games, lacrosse games, girls, boys, JV, varsity. And our big concern — we’re sympathetic to the students and wanting them to have a stadium — I’m concerned about non-school events. If this is all about student safety, why are we allowing OCPS to be able to rent out the stadium to other people over the summer when it’s not being used? That doesn’t seem like it’s compatible with our area.”

Karina Roman Zavala, a senior at Windermere and the Student Government Association president, spoke at the meeting about safety, participation, practicality and tradition.

Although as a graduating senior, she won’t be able to use the field, she hopes for it for her seventh-grade brother who aspires to play football at the school in the future.

“This is much more than a stadium,” she said. “It’s about keeping our students and our community safe. We are one of the only schools that does not have an on-campus field. This has been a great inconvenience for athletes, spectators and staff, but also a great risk to our safety. You can’t have tradition without safety.”

Maggie Caprese, senior student body vice president and sports team student section chair at Windermere, also spoke.

“We deserve this stadium,” she said. “Future generations deserve this stadium, and Windermere deserves these memories and traditions.”

“We deserve the right to walk out and embrace a stadium that we call home and serves as a symbol of our community,” Paulo Moreira, senior and member of the SGA, echoed.

Donnie Cary, SGA treasurer and a junior at WHS, said the school is in need of a legacy, and the stadium could be just the beginning.

“To anyone standing against this cause, I instead urge you to consider making yourself a part of this community instead of standing in the way of its progress and growth,” he said. “Enrich yourself in the community that we at the school have no choice but to. Realize that the greatness the school has already achieved needs a spark.”

District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson made a motion for approval of the stadium, and the vote passed unanimously. 

“It was such a relief, and I would feel better if it was right now, but I know they have to build and improve on what’s already there now,” Wilson said. “The sooner the better, but I’m so relieved. There’s no more interaction from the county as far as having to get any more approvals. We are done, and I’m so excited for those students. I’m so proud of the kids that jumped in and advocated along the way because they’re not even going to be there for this. They’re seniors. They’re doing this for the next generation of kids and neighbors. It takes real leadership and it takes real courage.  … They made history.”

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