WaWa Meeting

[Loui Skenderis]

All,

Tonight's meeting at Edgewater High School re the proposed WaWa at 441 & 50 was very interesting.  Com. Stuart opened the meeting by introducing the WaWa officials and City staff, and by responding to those that feel he has not done enough regarding commercial developments along Rt 50.  Com. Stuart started by saying "It's not my job", before clarifying that he would become more involved in the process after the Municipal Planning Board's decision. Com. Stuart also stated that an hour had been budgeted for tonight's meeting and that if it couldn't be done in an hour, it wasn't worth doing.  While I prefer to live by the mantra that if it's not worth doing right it's not worth doing at all, I think it important to communicate our commissioner's views to those who were not present.

We learned that there will be a total of 4 public hearings for residents to be heard on the record.  The 1st being before the Municipal Planning Board on February 19th at 8:30pm on the 2nd floor of City Hall, & the next on March 25th at 2:00pm before the City Council.  To be approved, WaWa must obtain both a zoning and a land use change, so this is no 7-11 situation.  WaWa anticipates 9 more months of permitting before construction.

We also learned that all WaWa stores are company owned, and they consider this one a flagship location.  They pointed to the Silver Star location as a model of what they propose here. 

Residents from both College Park and Spring Lake raised a series of concerns including:

*This use of the land would be inconsistent with the nature of the land use of the other properties along Rt 50 between 441 & Tampa Ave
*This use would further quarantine the small community south of 50 between 441 & Tampa Ave and could create cut-through traffic
*This will be a 24 hour business
*This will be the closest 24 hour business to Parliament House and the Citrus Bowl, attracting traffic to our area
*This increased use will generate additional noise pollution, particularly during Citrus Bowl events (boom boxes, etc)
*Homeless will use the large, landscaped grounds to sleep & loiter, including a knee wall which will provide seating
*This business will draw more foot traffic from areas south of 50 onto 50, nearer our homes
*Additional trash will be generated which will blow into our neighborhoods
*WaWa's proposal includes the elimination of a soft turn from 50 East onto 441 South, backing up traffic which is already so bad int he mornings that residents of Spring Lake have trouble turning east onto Rt 50 at their lighted entrance
*Wawa's proposal calls for an entrance in the aforementioned right hand lane, further exacerbating this issue

WaWa and the City's position is that it hopes this project will be an important 1st step in revitalizing this intersection, which is the first main intersection in Orlando for eastbound traffic along Rt 50.  WaWa has a "free coffee" policy for uniformed police, which they have found effective in attracting police to their location.  The City claimed that residents' traffic concerns were examined and approved by FDOT.  WaWa says it will install a series of cameras and will be aggressive in shooing loiterers. 

Fewer than two dozen residents attended this meeting.  I propose the CPSC meet before February 19th's Planning Board meeting to formulate a position/strategy.

In addition, 400' appears to be the radius for notification when zoning/planning proposals are made on commercial properties in Orlando.  So as we move forward, if you receive such a notice, DO NOT ASSUME others got it.  Only one College Park resident was notified by mail about tonight's meeting. 

I also had the opportunity to meet Barry Metcalf, president of Spring Lake's HOA.  His email is met...@iag.net.  I also met Orlando Evora who was involved with the construction of the wall around that community.  His email is evo...@gtlaw.com

Finally, I would like to say a word about email etiquette.  While I think it important to forward this and other emails to others so that we can spread the word & martial our forces, I think it equally important to not delete the forwarder's address so that readers can understand the history of email chains and to keep these discussions transparent.

Thank you,
Loui

[Bertie Hunt]

Loui.........Thank you for the update.  I was sorry  that at the last minute I was not able to attend the meeting.  Was Comm. Lynum there , it is her district.  I am not quite sure what your trying to accomplish, stop WA-WA from building on this parcel? ??? I am a 3rd generation born in College Park and was raised on Ellwood .  I have seen many changes through the years.  I also live in Palomar now and watch the WA-WA go up on Silver Star /JYP,  they have done a great job about security and keeping the  grounds clean.  In my opinion nothing could be worse than the 7/11 at Westmoreland/Colonial Dr.  I do not believe WA-WA would turn into this. ..again Comm. Lynum district.  I have several friends that live in Spring Lake  and spoke with one yesterday , he was not concerned at all.  As you know  all the entrances have been bock  leaving only Tampa open.  They have OPD security when the Citrus Bowl has  functions.

 

As I understand the SE corner meets all the requirements that city has in place , I wonder if WA-WA has thought about this land?? It would certainly give 7/11 a challenge.

 

Again thanks for the update

 

Bertie Hunt

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[Donn Carr]

Good report from Loui - I am sorry I missed the opening remarks by Bobby but his closing remarks were as riveting and inspiring. (leaving it all right there)…..

No, I too was surprised that Commish Lynum was not there. We had a very small but highly vocal group. Alli was there and other than Loui, that was about all I recognized. The group was small 26 at the most dropping back to 23 near closing.

The first speaker for WaWa was horrible and acted like a fish out of water and will ill prepared for what he walked into. The WaWa operational representative was good as was their engineer. People must understand that from a PR standpoint, WaWa can not and should not disclose exactly what their plans are to keep the riff raff away. There are too many organizations out there that would make their life a living hell if they thought for half a second certain groups (homeless, etc.) were being targeted. I have confidence in WaWa.

What WAS troubling is that our fair City Planning Commission once again has a massive case of cranial recumitus. Seems that WaWa want to put a 3' knee wall (fence) around the perimeter in order to control cut throughs plus it is decorative. Here is where the City gets stupid AGAIN. Seems the city wants them to build a block wall instead. I will send you photos of the rendering WaWa has submitted. The City seems to forget that by putting a 3' block fence around the property they just created a 50 running feet (or more) PLACE TO SIT. Chris brought this up in the meeting and everyone seemed shocked it hadn't been discussed earlier.

The engineer mentioned we may want to get someone's ear in the planning office on this one and I intend to reach out to Doug Metzger later today for clarification and input from the city. I think sometimes we have larger problems with the City Planning department than we do with the incoming tenants.

The Wendy's site was mentioned and it was eluded but not confirmed that the use is a retail use, possible clothing.

Regarding the McNamara site across from this planned site . Quite simply the McNamara family has no intention to sell and thus it is not available. I do think we need to begin to reach out to the McNamara family gently at first, publicly later via media, to clean this blighted corner up. I know they are a well respected family (or so I am told) in the community. It would seem reasonable that if one is in fact respected they should be doing respectable things and that eyesore doesn't qualify. 

I'm for WaWa AND and cleaning the  McNamara site. This is is an important gate way and I would think the City Beautiful's goals of cleaning up this corridor begins there.

Good notes Loui

Donn Carr
Carr Management Group
Principal Partner, President
Specializing in Enhancing the Retail / Shopping Center Experience
Do...@carrmg.com
(904) 329-5812

http://carrmg.com/

[Bertie Hunt]

Donn Good thoughts......

had heard many years ago after McNamara closed ...possible homeless shelter for Salvation Army.....so far so good....McNamara kids may sell..........

 

Bertie