A task force guiding the spending of Orange County\u2019s lucrative tourist tax endorsed a slate of big-money ideas Tuesday, but, in a shocking move, voted down a half-a-billion-dollar expansion to the county\u2019s convention center, deemed by supporters the region\u2019s \u201ceconomic engine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The $523 million expansion of the Orange County Convention Center was promoted by hoteliers and tourism interests as a necessity to stay competitive with Central Florida\u2019s biggest rivals in the convention business, like Las Vegas and Chicago.<\/p>\n
The idea had the support of task force co-chair Eddy Moratin, but not his fellow co-chair, former county Mayor Linda Chapin, the namesake of a theater inside the complex, who said the group should favor other ideas that would \u201cbenefit more of the community and bring different kinds of visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n
The task force also declined to advance a proposed $1 billion set-aside for a Major League Baseball stadium, a decision that came as little surprise given the Dreamers group promoting it has neither a team to offer nor a site locked down.<\/p>\n
Instead, it was the convention center \u2013 already the size of the Pentagon \u2013 that emerged as a harbinger of a growing debate in the county over the best uses of the Tourist Development Tax, charged on hotel and short-term rentals. Currently state law restricts the tax\u2019s use to tourism promotion and entities.<\/p>\n
Given the incredible tourism boom driven primarily by the area\u2019s theme parks, tax revenues have been growing \u2014 and task force members were told at the beginning of the meeting there is as much as $925 million to spend.<\/p>\n
Much of the appointed task force said the county should more aggressively lobby the state to broaden the rules over the tax\u2019s use, allowing it to be spent in particular on transportation. Michael Poole, the city of Winter Park\u2019s representative, contended the money should be saved for transportation or workforce housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have spent 50 years building that Convention Center and pouring money into it. It\u2019s time for a change. We all know it\u2019s time for a change,\u201d said Poole. \u201cThe idea that we\u2019re going to vote to move something along when we know it\u2019s broken\u2026is insanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the final say on funding decisions lies with the Board of County Commissioners. They\u2019re not bound by the task force\u2019s recommendations, but given that the board appointed many of the panel\u2019s members, it will be politically difficult to ignore them.<\/p>\n
Convention Center leaders want to build a 352,000-square-foot expansion of the North-South Building. The project proposes adding a 200,000 square-foot space with seating for 20,000, including retractable seating for 8,000. That would allow large conventions to book concerts for their shows.<\/p>\n
Some task force members had praised the complex as the tourist corridor\u2019s \u201ceconomic engine\u201d responsible for generating hundreds of millions in economic impact in direct and \u201ccollateral\u201d spending by conventioneers at hotels, area restaurants and shops, and millions more at theme parks and other attractions.<\/p>\n
The project was deemed \u201cshovel ready\u201d as the county previously paid $17 million for its design.<\/p>\n
Before the meeting started, John Stine, chairman of the International Drive Resort Area Chamber of Commerce, appealed to the task force to move the convention center project forward to county commissioners for funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot because it\u2019s simply another construction project, but because it\u2019s one of the most important economic development investments Orange County can make,\u201d Stine said. \u201cThe Orange County Convention Center is the engine that helps drive our region\u2019s economy, and it generates millions of dollars in annual economic impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Ella Wood, appointed to the committee to represent Commission District 5, said the county should look to commit money instead to solving transportation problems around the convention center, blamed by at least one trade show as a reason it decided to leave Orlando for Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a number of ways to improve the transit problems that have been taking business out of the convention center,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In all, the group advanced a dozen ideas for consideration by the Tourist Development Council:<\/p>\n
The \u201cARC\u201d plan \u2013 Between $75 million and $100 million to provide grant funding from excess tourist revenue to smaller and mid-sized proposals.
\nOrange County Natural Resource Tourism grant \u2013 Up to $25 million over multiple years to improve or preserve lakes, rivers, parks, conservation lands and trails
\nOrange County Eco-Tourism Grant \u2013 Up to $50 million over multiple years for a competitive program to fund nature tourism programs
\nOrange County Arts and Cultural Affairs- An additional 1% to 2% of TDT revenue toward grant funding to smaller capital projects
\nDr. Phillips Inc.- $60 million to help build a two-story, 30,000 square foot Eatonville Museum of Culture & History
\nCreative City Project- $22.5 million over 10 years to fund the growth of the IMMERSE Festival in downtown Orlando
\n8 Waves Corporation- $25 million for a 20,000 square foot children\u2019s museum in Winter Garden
\nDr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts- $750 million for a massive expansion to the downtown campus, adding 11 new theaters and other amenities
\nFlorida Citrus Sports \u2013 $54 million to build a multi-level parking garage at Camping World Stadium
\nCity of Ocoee \u2013 $30 million for improvements to a golf course to create a tourism destination
\nTown of Eatonville Community Development Agency \u2013 $22.5 million to fund the Eatonville Heritage Tourism District
\nOrange Audubon Society \u2013 $20 million for the Natural History Museum at Apopka Birding Park<\/p>\n
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A task force guiding the spending of Orange County\u2019s lucrative tourist tax endorsed a slate of big-money ideas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,109],"class_list":["post-368989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}