Watch the City Council Workshop Online
Watch the City Council Meeting Online
Workshop Notes
Project DTO
Members of Project DTO recently completed their comprehensive visioning process to formulate what’s next for Downtown Orlando.
Project DTO’s nearly 100 volunteers – a 71-member Task Force and 26-member Executive Advisory Committee — have spent the last 13 months inventorying our Downtown’s assets, getting resident input and studying other downtown’s best practices to provide recommendations on how to make Downtown Orlando one of the best urban environments in America.
Chairs, vice chairs, consultants and some members of Project DTO provided an overview of this intensive planning process and the deliverables, which include a Vision Plan and new Community Redevelopment Area Plan, both documents being our road map for the future.
Thomas Chatmon, Executive Director of the DDB/CRA led the presentation.
General Items of Note:
SunRail
On Friday May, 1, we celebrated one year of SunRail. Noranne Downs, District 5 FDOT Secretary, provided Council with a brief overview of the year’s success.
Body Cam Presentation
One of the City’s top priorities is the safety of our community and working with our residents to keep our neighborhoods safe.
Over the last 10 years, we’ve made a significant investment in public safety, adding police officers and firefighters, investing in state-of-the-art technology and providing state of the art training.
A year ago, we launched a study on the use of body-worn video cameras and results have shown that body cameras can be an important tool, providing critical evidence in solving crimes and assisting us to increase transparency and accountability within the police department.
Mayor Dyer believes the implementation of body cameras will allow us to continue giving our residents the benefits of technology-based policing and continue to earn our citizen’s confidence and support as we work together to keep crime out of our community.
Chief Mina gave a presentation on the body-camera study and the City’s plans for implementation.
Orlando Solar Bears Hockey Playoffs
Mayor Dyer congratulated our hometown hockey team, the Orlando Solar Bears, for the successful season they had this year. They made the playoffs for the second straight season and in what was a very competitive playoff series ended in 6 games in overtime by 1 point.
Ace Cafe “Start Your Engines” Groundbreaking Event
Last Thursday, we broke ground on the future site of Ace Cafe Orlando. This new business location represents the entry of Ace Cafe into the United States and will serve as their North America headquarter location. The new venue will be a mecca for motorcycle and car enthusiasts from around the world, providing themed events, a restaurant and retail space. Ace Cafe is scheduled to open this summer and will be a welcomed addition to Downtown Orlando, adding to the vibrancy and quality of life to the area and generating increased visitation and economic benefits.
LYMMO Lime Line Groundbreaking
In partnership with LYNX and the FTA, the City of Orlando will break ground on the new LYMMO Lime Line on Thursday, May 14 at 2 p.m. The event will take place at the former Amway Arena located west of the Bob Carr Theater.
The Lime Line will provide another transportation option for our community that will provide convenient access to LYNX Central Station, SunRail, the Parramore neighborhood, FAMU College of Law and the Creative Village.
The Lime Line is expected to be complete by the first half of 2016.
National Small Business Week
This week is National Small Business Week and gives us an opportunity to recognize our City’s small business owners for the tremendous contribution they make to Orlando.
The City’s small businesses provide much-needed goods and services and drive our local economy by creating new jobs and opportunities for residents, ultimately enhancing the quality of life in Orlando.
The City supports the growth of small businesses in a number of ways like through our Main Street Program and partnering with organizations like the National Entrepreneur Center and UCF Incubator program. In addition, the City has a number of small business programs to remove financial barriers for businesses looking to grow or expand.
In honor of National Small Business Week, Mayor dyer invites all residents to join him in celebrating, and making a conscious decision to support the small businesses within our community – many of which are located in Downtown and in our Main Street districts.
Cinco de Mayo
On Tuesday, May 5 at 5:30 p.m. in the rotunda, Mayor dyer will join Commissioner Tony Ortiz, our Consul of Mexico and the community to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, an event that commemorates the victory of the Mexican army over the French army in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
We are honored to host this annual cultural event that is a tradition for our Mexican American community.
Agenda Items of Note:
Millenia Elementary Trail Bridge
Keeping Orlando moving continues to be a priority for the City of Orlando. By providing multi-modal forms of transportation, we are able to offer those who live, work and play in Orlando options for getting around the City.
Part of this effort includes the City’s commitment to investing in our biking amenities. Currently, Orlando is home to more than 300 miles of urban bicycling trails, signed routes and lanes and has been a designated Bicycle Friendly Community since 2000. In the past year the City has:
- Added more wayfinding signage for cyclists at intersections high-use corridors like Delaney Avenue
- We completed the Orlando Primary Bicycle Route Study, which identified preferred corridors to close existing gaps in the overall trail network and
- We launched a bike rack request program to allow businesses to request a bike rack to be installed in front of their business.
The Council voted to approve the construction of the Millenia Elementary Trail Bridge that will “bridge” the current gap of the Shingle Creek Pedestrian Trail.
The project will provide a critical trail connection to our existing multi-use trail on the north and south sides of Shingle Creek with the construction of a pedestrian bridge and an extension of the existing multi-use trail on the southern side of the bridge to tie into the existing trail on the northern side of the bridge.
Construction will start this summer and be complete this fall.
Q & A
- Length of project: 160 feet (includes the bridge)
- Timing: Construction will start this summer 2015 and is expected to take 90 days, with completion expected this fall 2015.
- Cost: Budget: $375,901
- Developer of the original subdivision, K Hovnanian Homes – $263,000
- SW Impact Fees – $112,901
- Contractor: Theobald Construction
Ordinances:
There were a series of ordinances Monday where Council cleaned up the language, for example one of the ordinances required that we store records on microfilm and there are several areas which state law now pre-empts city ordinance, including areas of the building code like plumbing and air conditioning.
CRA – Project DTO
Monday morning, Council had a workshop on Project DTO’s intensive visioning process, the new Vision Plan and updated Community Redevelopment Area Plan which will serve as our roadmap for the future of Downtown Orlando.
Project DTO’s nearly 100 volunteers – a 71-member Task Force and 26-member Executive Advisory Committee — have spent the last 13 months inventorying our Downtown’s assets, getting resident input and studying other downtown’s best practices to provide recommendations on how to make Downtown Orlando one of the best urban environments in America.
Recommendations from Project DTO span from
- Improving bicycle and pedestrian amenities to
- Increasing parks and open space to
- Recruiting major corporate anchors and high wage jobs to
- Expanding neighborhood associations and housing options to
- Encouraging architecture that creates a signature skyline in our Downtown.
Mayor Dyer thanked the members of Project DTO’s Task Force and Executive Advisory Committee for working tirelessly to help craft a road map for the future of our community and for their unwavering support for Downtown Orlando.
Mayor Dyer also thanked the thousands of residents who provided input into the plan – from those who attended events to those who submitted feedback on social media.
We have always said Project DTO would be a plan for the future of Downtown Orlando crafted by the residents of Orlando. There is no denying our pursuit of these recommendations will make Downtown Orlando and Central Florida an even better place to live, work and play.
