Nearly a year ago, Orange County voters decided they wanted more voices in local government. They narrowly approved a ballot measure to enlarge the county governing board from six to eight seats, an expansion that required rejiggering commission district maps.
Now, after many hours of meetings and dozens of alternate maps, the decision has come down to two leading proposals and a key question with significant political implications: Where does Winter Park best fit?
The current six-member Orange County Commission, plus Mayor Jerry Demings, must decide by Nov. 1 what the newly drawn districts will look like.
Elected leaders in Winter Park prefer a map known as 1A which puts the artsy city, its high tax base and 30,000 residents in a new District 7 along with neighboring cities, Eatonville and Maitland, and unincorporated Pine Hills. That’s a district Winter Park would likely dominate politically.
The other option, map 7B, cleaves Winter Park from Maitland and Eatonville and keeps it in a mostly rural district that stretches all the way to the Brevard County line, a long horizontal swath of land that takes about an hour to drive from west to east. It’s similar to the current District 5.
But in that construct, Pine Hills — a relatively low-income, mostly Black and Hispanic community — could play a bigger role in District 7.
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said her urban city has little in common with the rural communities as proposed in 7B.
“We have no contiguous borders with east Orange County,” she said Sept. 16 before a county commission work session to discuss the competing proposals. “There is absolutely no compatibility, collaboration, contingent border or community between us.”
DeCiccio said Winter Park dispatches Maitland’s police and fire calls and shares other resources with its neighbors.
But Pine Hills advocates worry Winter Park’s affluence and political influence will eclipse Pine Hills’ needs if they are combined.
“I feel like the choice is kind of clear — either Pine Hills gets disenfranchised or Winter Park doesn’t get its preference,” said Seven Charlestin, who helped draft the proposed alternative to the map Winter Park leaders prefer. “I get that Winter Park would rather be with like-minded communities, but if they get that, I think Pine Hills gets little to no representation. I don’t think that’s equitable.”
Pine Hills has arguably suffered for years under Orange County’s current, six-district map, which splits the community in two.
Commissioner Kelly Semrad, who currently represents District 5, including Winter Park and the rural east Orange communities, has received over 100 emails in support of 7B. When queried about her preference, Semrad, known for her support of rural areas, said she was undecided.
The proposed alternatives emerged from an appointed advisory panel of 15 people who met 20 times over seven months in public meetings, weighing about 30 redistricting maps, a few suggested by citizens but most drafted by committee members using mapping software provided through a county website.
The panel was guided by an assistant county attorney to ensure they followed federal and state laws and steered away from gerrymandering, deliberate manipulation of electoral boundaries to provide a partisan advantage to a political party or a class of citizens.
They forwarded the two options 1A and 7B to county commissioners without endorsing either.
The goal of redistricting is to rebalance the population between commission districts so that no commissioner represents substantially more citizens than other commissioners, said Hector “Tico” Perez, appointed by Demings to be a co-chair of the panel.
“I’m fine with either map,” Perez said, echoing Demings’ remarks following the county commission work session. “Whatever the county commission does, I’m going to support.”
An attorney, Perez said the advisory panel also gave weight to “commonality of issues,” a factor that not only boosts Winter Park’s argument to be included in a district with Maitland and Eatonville, but also buttresses pleas to keep Pine Hills and the adjacent and unincorporated Orlovista community (sometimes written as Orlo Vista) together. Though dominated by white non-Hispanic residents, Orlovista has a substantial Black population and is also relatively low-income.
Perez was unpersuaded by claims Winter Park would overshadow Pine Hills if the two communities were in the same district.
“One thing I can assure you of, based upon Pine Hills’ efforts and appearances in our meetings, they do not lack engaged, informed citizens to bring attention to issues facing their community no matter which district it ends up in,” he said. “They were assertive, professional, very organized and very, very focused….Whoever winds up representing them, they’ll have to give them attention.”
Orange County commissioners are expected to choose an option Oct. 14.
Expanding the commission from six to eight seats is estimated to cost county taxpayers about $1.4 million, or $700,000 each, said Kurt Petersen, county budget director. The added costs includes salaries and benefits for the new commissioners and three staffers each.
Each commissioner also will be allocated $100,000 for small district projects like fixing sidewalks or adding speed humps.
Taxpayers also will foot an estimated $1.5 million to add two new commissioner offices and renovate commission chambers.
shudak@orlandosentinel.com
