AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MAYOR AND WINTER PARK CITY COMMISSION

Dear Mayor DeCiccio and Members of the City Commission:

We understand and respect the importance of private property rights, as well as the desire to avoid replacing Merrywood with another oversized residence along Palmer Avenue. We acknowledge that every private property owner in Winter Park deserves to receive a fair market value for their home when placing it for sale.

However, we urge the City Commission not to amend the Comprehensive Plan to benefit a single property owner when the practical result would be the demolition of a significant historic resource. Such an action would set an unfortunate precedent for future requests involving other large properties throughout Winter Park.

The City has previously allowed lot splits involving historic properties, but with an important public benefit in return: protection of the existing historic resource through designation on the Winter Park Register of Historic Places. In the 2024 case involving the property at 1290 N. Park Avenue, for example, approval was conditioned upon historic designation of the existing home.

The circumstances surrounding Merrywood have also changed materially since the Commission’s initial vote. Commissioners were told that no purchaser had emerged who was willing to acquire and preserve the house. We now know that Winter Park lawyer Matt Morgan, himself the owner of a designated historic property in the City, has renewed an offer to purchase the entire property for $12 million, the reported amount of the existing contract, or alternatively to purchase the portion containing Merrywood at a pro-rata value.

Indeed, the City Commission cannot determine the selling price of private property, require an owner to sell to a particular buyer, or require the preservation of a property that has not been locally designated. It does, however, have an important land-use authority at its discretion: whether to approve an amendment to Winter Park’s Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is the City’s long-range framework for growth and development, and an amendment to it is a significant public policy action, not simply a private property transaction. When the City is asked to change that framework to accommodate a particular development proposal, there should be a clear and meaningful public benefit in return. In this case, we believe that benefit should be the historic designation and protection of Merrywood.

Given this new information, we believe the appropriate course is straightforward: a lot split requiring an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan should not be granted without historic designation of Merrywood.

This approach respects property rights, maintains consistency with prior City decisions, protects the integrity of the Comprehensive Plan, and allows the Commission to consider the significant new facts that have emerged since its initial vote.

We respectfully ask you to reconsider the proposed amendment accordingly.

Sincerely,

The undersigned residents and friends of Winter Park