Winter Springs:

We will not annex into Black Hammock

Commission expected to pass ordinance next month.

( See a VERY important email received just an hour after we published the above link --it's at the bottom.)

WINTER SPRINGS - In a surprise move to quell increasing animosity about annexing into the Black Hammock, the Winter Springs City Commission has proposed drawing a line, halting the city's eastward expansion at the edge of Deleon Street.

 

At a special meeting called by Mayor John Bush on Monday, commissioners discussed at length their concerns that projects the city has planned are being held up by the county because the city is too aggressive and not trustworthy.

Bush had few backers of the theory, but found support for taking action to improve the city's image.

"It takes a stronger stance to build up the trust that we really don't have," City Commissioner Michael Blake said. "Nobody really trusts anyone right now."

What came of the meeting was a decision to draft an ordinance that will block the city from accepting any requests from property owners for annexation if their property lies anywhere east of Winter Springs' current easternmost point, on the west side of Deleon Street at the edge of the Black Hammock rural neighborhood.

That ordinance is expected to be ready for a public hearing on April 10, with formal adoption possible as soon as April 24.

It would be the strongest step to avoid developing the rural lands east of Winter Springs and Oviedo, an area the county wants to control, with the stated intention of slowing or stopping urban sprawl into the pastureland, groves and forests that dominate the area.

Oviedo officials have expressed interest in annexing land as far north as Lake Jesup, the northern border of the Black Hammock area. Though no plans are concrete, both cities have been in contact with landowners about possible annexations in the area, filled with five-acre and larger lots of land, dotted with country homes, horse pastures and iconic farm plots such as Pappy's strawberry patch.

Bush said the city will be able to accomplish more with the county and Oviedo if it can foster a relationship built on mutual trust, something he says Winter Springs doesn't have now. Among the benefits of better inter-governmental cooperation, he said, would be more influence on parks projects such as Jetta Point, where the city wants a dog park, and Soldiers Creek Park, where the city wants ball fields. Bush also posed that a possible library in the city's Town Center has lost county support because of the soured relationship.

"I think that our position has hurt us in working with the county," Bush said. "You're not going to see a library in Winter Springs. It's not going to happen." 

The city remains embroiled in a lawsuit against the county over the constitutionality of its rural boundary area, which prevents cities from deciding land use even if they have annexed those lands into their municipal boundaries. City Manager Ron McLemore, when asked during the meeting about the amount of money the city has spent on studying Black Hammock annexation and on its legal fight with the county, said it may be as high as $200,000.

Some of that money went toward a committee of Black Hammock landowners that recently presented a report outlining its suggestions for developing the area responsibly. That report, which recommended a conservation design model that would pack houses closely together while leaving large tracts of surrounding land open, was praised by members of the City Commission, though no official stance by the city was taken.

Community leaders in the Black Hammock expressed concern that too many new residents would be funneled into the area under the plan.

The effort to clarify the city's position won the praise of Oviedo City Council Chairman Dominic Persampiere, who said it's a step in the right direction, but one on a path the two cities have already embarked on.

"We've been working towards a healthier relationship, and there's been some great strides made on both parts," Persampiere said. "This certainly will help address one of the major stumbling blocks we have between the two cities."

Oviedo and Winter Springs leaders will sit down for another in a series of joint meetings on April 4, at which the Black Hammock is the only planned topic of discussion. Persampiere said he couldn't say that Oviedo will make a similar pledge not to annex, as the city has historic ties to the Black Hammock area. He said he is looking forward to talking about the issue with Winter Springs next month.

Robert King, a Black Hammock resident and activist critical of the landowners' development model, said the move by the City Commission to end eastward annexation could mean a new day in local politics.

"It's probably visionary statewide," King said. "It's probably one of the wisest moves that any local government has ever made, and it could very well be a precedent, a model, that other municipalities can look to."