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Credit: Photo via Friends of Lake Baldwin Park\/Facebook<\/p>\nCredit: Photo via Friends of Lake Baldwin Park\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Winter Park city leaders this week advanced a plan to create a paid parking pilot program at Lake Baldwin Park and Dinky Dock, effective next year, as the city explores ways to bring in extra city revenue.<\/p>\n
The goal of the pilot program, according to city documents<\/a>, is to \u201cto modernize management, improve operational efficiency, and offset expenditure cost to support municipal services.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The city claims that requiring visitors \u2014 many of them not residents of Winter Park \u2014 to pay to park their cars would \u201cenhance\u201d the parking experience for all.\u00a0<\/p>\n Residents of Winter Park would be able to continue to park at the dog park and Dinky Dock for free, under the proposal, if they registered their vehicles with the city and received a permit. The six-month pilot, first discussed during summer budget talks, still needs to be drafted as a city ordinance for final approval by the city commission.\u00a0<\/p>\n If approved, it\u2019s expected to roll out in spring 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in favor of the pilot program,\u201d said city commissioner Craig Russell. \u201cIt might ruffle some feathers,\u201d\u00a0 he added. \u201cI think tracking the behaviors at those parks will give us good indicators on how to use this most effectively, you know, for our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n Parking rates at the two parks would likely be in the range of $2 to $3 an hour, according to city staff, or a flat rate of $20 per day. Winter Park residents would be able to register two vehicles per household for permits in order to park for free. Those permits \u2014 requiring proof of residency, like a utility bill \u2014 would need to be renewed by residents annually.<\/p>\n Although the pilot program concept was approved by the five-member Winter Park Commission unanimously, not everyone in the community is on board.<\/p>\n \u201cBaldwin Park is a regional gathering place,\u201d noted Eric Paul, president of the nonprofit Friends of Winter Park Dog Park<\/a>, during the public comment portion of the discussion. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople from Baldwin Park, Audubon Park, Orlando and beyond \u2014 they stand alongside Winter Park residents as one community.\u00a0 Charging these neighbors to park risks dividing the community we should be proud to bring together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCharging these neighbors to park risks dividing the community we should be proud to bring together\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Paul, president of Friends of Lake Baldwin Dog Park<\/p>\n Paul said his group of volunteers, made up of both Winter Park and non-Winter Park residents, was created to help fill gaps in city staff\u2019s maintenance and upkeep at Lake Baldwin Park. \u201cThe people doing the work should be included before paid parking is proposed,\u201d Paul argued.<\/p>\n According to city staff, both locations \u2014 Dinky Dock near Rollins College and Lake Baldwin Park \u2014 were chosen for this pilot project because they believe it\u2019s unlikely that creating paid parking will cause an overflow of traffic and push desperate parkers into neighborhoods instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not impossible for it not to happen,\u201d admitted Kyle Dudgeon, the city\u2019s economic development assistant division director. \u201cBut we certainly think that there is some value in looking at an area like this where we feel like something could be plausible here more than other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n City staff noted that other neighboring cities like Orlando, Sanford and Mount Dora have recently held similar discussions around paid parking. \u201cWinter Park is not the only group having this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida municipalities, currently in budget season with the current fiscal year ending Sept. 30, are also preparing for a potential loss in property tax revenue<\/a>, if Amendment 3 is approved by more than 60 percent of voters this fall.<\/p>\n State economists estimate<\/a> that if Amendment 3 is passed, expanding Florida\u2019s homestead property tax exemption, local governments in Florida could lose out on roughly $5 billion collectively in the first year of implementation, with that number steadily rising thereafter.<\/p>\n \u201cRevenues generated may be appropriated by the City Commission to support municipal operations, capital projects, public infrastructure, or other community priorities through the budget process,\u201d according to city documents pertaining to the pilot parking program. \u201cIn addition to revenue considerations, the program is expected to improve parking turnover, encourage efficient use of public parking resources, reduce congestion in high-demand areas, and provide data-driven insights for program efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n City commissioner Elizabeth Ingram asked if the pilot parking program might be expanded to other parks or city areas in the future. According to city of Winter Park staff, the answer is, at this point, to be determined at a later date. \u201cThe scalability of it is, I don\u2019t think, as important today,\u201d said Dudgeon.<\/p>\n City staff and commissioners will have further opportunities to amend or adjust the details of the pilot program as staff draft an ordinance for city commissioners to review, then approve or reject at a later meeting date.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe FWC outlined plans to require facilities and cages used to handle imported sloths to meet the same requirements as capuchin, spider, and woolly monkeys\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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