Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Winter Park City Commission held its regular meeting on October 28, 2026, beginning at 3:30 PM. Key actions included approving a conditional use for the Winter Park Day Nursery's expansion, advancing the Z Properties Group office project on first reading, tabling a mixed-use synagogue/townhome project, and addressing community concerns about an incident at a youth soccer league.
Commission of Winnipeg meeting for October 28th, 2026. It is my privilege to call for the invocation, Pastor Caleb Holtz from the First Baptist Church of Winnipeg. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of this city that is Winter Park, for its tree-lined streets, for its shaded parks and its lakes and neighborhoods, and for the great people who make Winter Park home. We pause now and ask your blessing on this meeting and on those who serve here. Give our mayor and commissioners wisdom beyond their own, clarity in their thinking, and courage to do what is right. Grant them patience to listen well, humility, to consider other views and grace to disagree without division. Bless the city staff, our police officers, our firefighters, and every public servant whose work often goes unseen. Protect them and strengthen them for the work ahead. May the conversations here be marked by honesty, respect, and genuine care for one another. And may what is decided in this room help Winter Park be a place where all people can flourish. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one. Under God, indivisible and with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next, we will call our community partnership presentation. I believe Mr. Goleman is here for the Winter Park Land Trust and Mr. Williams. Please, uh podium is yours. And Bob Bendick. And Bob Bendick. Who is the co-chair? Okay. But today he's our A V geek. So he'll be doing the uh screening here, the slides. So normally I would just speak, but I'm gonna read so I don't take up too much time, and that leaves Charlie some more time. He has more things to talk about. Um I'm the chair, chairman of the Winter Park Land Trust, and Bob, as I said, is the co-chair, and Charlie is the head of the Winter Park Land Trust Tree Committee, which is by far the most active of uh group of everything that we do. So he'll have plenty to talk about. Umway, the Winter Park Land Trust is a nonprofit, independent 501c3 organization managed by a Winter Park Citizen Board of Trustees. The Land Trust was founded in 2018. Uh you probably remember that, right? To advance the expansion, conservation, management, and connection of parks and green space within and around the city of Winter Park, and to support the long-term stewardship of the city's valuable park and green space assets. The Winter Park Land Trust has several hundred members, and its Board of Trustees is composed of folks with a wide diversity of experience and capabilities. Back in the early 2000s, the city was exploring the idea of significantly increasing the density of Winter Park to help justify light rail. I think that was before you joined. Excuse me, opinions from the residents of Winter Park about the possibility of increasing density. After a year of meetings with a variety of citizens' groups, we found that our residents were overwhelmingly against any increase in density and supported protecting and where possible increasing green space. The first project of the land trust was our partnership with the city to create what would be the future Seven Oaks Park. Since that time, the land trust members have been involved in many projects with the city concerning the creation and connection connection of our valuable parkland and green space. So one example is our work in a number of areas with Jason Seely, the Director of Parks and Rec. One important current project is the renovation of the large retention pond area on Howell Branch Road adjacent to the Howl Branch Preserve and Park. So