ORLANDO, Fla. — The City of Orlando is moving forward with a proposal designed to attract new investment to downtown by easing development restrictions within the downtown historic district.
In a vote Monday, all but one city commissioner supported the measure, which the majority of city leaders say could help revitalize an area that has struggled for years with vacant storefronts, blight, and underused properties.
Supporters argue the changes would streamline the development process and make it easier for property owners and developers to invest in downtown Orlando.
“We’ve got to kind of get a pendulum, you know, a balance here between economic development and historic context,” said Craig Usler, president of Ustler Development, during public comment.
What would change?
Currently, developers seeking to make exterior changes to buildings within the downtown historic district must obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness from Orlando’s Historic Preservation Board.
Developers have argued that process can delay projects and create additional hurdles for redevelopment efforts.
“It makes it very difficult to expand and realize your development rights in the middle of the downtown,” City of Orlando Planning Director Jason Burton told commissioners. “Because you’ll meet with the staff, they’ll say, well, if I can see the expansion from across the street, that’s not appropriate to the mass scale materials.”
Under the proposal, that requirement would be suspended for three years. Instead, projects would be reviewed by the city’s Appearance Review Board, which focuses primarily on design and aesthetics rather than historic preservation.
Preservation advocates push back
The proposal is drawing criticism from preservation advocates and several members of the Historic Preservation Board, who said they were blind sighted by the plan and were not included in discussions before it was brought forward.
Board members warned that removing preservation oversight could put historic buildings at risk.
“I am shocked. Shocked,” said Historic Preservation Board member David Marten. “We were ignored, passed over. This is not the way to do good government. Good government’s where we work together as a partner,” Marten added.
“A city without old buildings is like a person without a memory…please do not be the reason that Orlando forgets who it is,” said resident Scott Seidler.
We asked David Barilla, executive director of the Downtown Development Board about critics saying the city is prioritizing development over Orlando’s history.
“I think this is about having a balanced approach. We want to make sure that we’re able to have buildings in downtown that are activated. And our historic buildings are best maintained when they are activated. And unfortunately right now, we see kind of what some of the conditions have arisen to where we don’t have the amount of vibrancy, the amount storefronts,” Barilla responded.
The proposal is scheduled to return to the Orlando City Council on June 22 for a second reading and final vote.
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