A Different View from Darren Glaude
Despite their record, Winter Springs commissioners insist they know best
By Darren Glaude
Published Mar 5, 2005

Darren Glaude, Seminole County Watch columnist.

They had themselves a real throwdown at the Winter Springs City Commission meeting last Monday evening.  Led by ringmaster Michael Blake, the commissioners proved themselves very able contortionists as they slapped themselves and everyone else on the back, full of the vim and vigor that comes from having beaten up the biggest, baddest kid on the block.

The celebration was over the commission's unanimous decision to put together an advisory board and work with a consultant to explore the prospects of how best to develop the area east of Winter Springs.  Not, of course, because they had any such plans or desire to do so.  But only because since it was someday going to happen, it might as well be Winter Springs that directs the development, since they know better than anyone else in the county about what is best for everyone else.

The Winter Springs Commission continues to ignore the vote of county residents last November to engage the Seminole County Commission as an oversight body on any development in the Black Hammock area, and with good reason.  There is a good chance they will prevail in the ongoing legal challenge to throw out that vote and all that goes with it.  Although the law may technically be theirs, the faith and confidence of those residents who will be most affected is not.

Winter Springs, or at least its commission, thinks it knows best.  Better than the Seminole County Commission.  Better than those in Oviedo, where their commission has renewed a cooperative development agreement with the county, which Winter Springs refuses to do while calling for everyone to work together.  And, most importantly, better than the residents of Seminole County, including 48 percent of their own residents who voted for the oversight amendment, indicating that at least half of the community has been paying some attention.

Commissioners say "never mind" the fact that they have made a holy mess of the glorified strip center they call the Winter Springs Town Center . . . oops, what used to be called the Winter Springs Town Center but has recently been rechristianed as "Winter Springs Downtown."  You know the old trick:  when something is not working as promised, you give it a new name and trumpet yet again all the great things that are now going to happen, once a new identity has been forged.

The Black Hammock area obviously should belong to Winter Springs for its commissioners to do with what they please.  Never mind that during the same meeting at which they commissioned their development study, the commissioners sat through an eternal dog-and-pony show regarding the new townhomes to be built on the Orange Avenue side of the Town Center, err, I mean, Winter Springs Downtown.

Despite the flaws in the plans for the proposed townhomes, and their failure to meet the stringent code requirements that had been such an integral part of the commission's pride in designing their downtown area, they nonetheless voted to approve the first reading of the development plan.  And you can bet your bottom dollar they will approve the second reading when it soon comes up, clearing the way for the developer to clear the land that is not at all suited for what is to come.

But a developer waving millions of dollars for a project gets much more respect than someone seeking a sign variance for an extra two inches of signage above his soon-to-be opened ice cream parlor, another issue laboriously dealt with by the commission at this same meeting.

Again, with Michael Blake serving as ringmaster, the commissioners made the ice-cream entreprenuer jump through a number of hoops before finally granting approval for his sign.

The Winter Springs commissioners were quite pleased with themselves at the end of the evening.  With thoughts of the townhome development that should not be but will, wth the blessing of the commissioners, I had a different view.

Email Darren at darrenglaude@seminolecountywatch.com