WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – The growing controversy in Winter Springs centers around what is no longer growing along State Road 434 at Michael Blake Boulevard: Trees mowed down by a developer to make room for townhomes and retail space.
Last month, a majority of Winter Springs city commissioners voted not to charge a developer nearly a quarter million dollars in arbor fees for the tree removal after the developer claimed it had already paid the agreed-upon arbor fee.
Then, this month, commissioners met again to discuss changing their minds, claiming they should have never voted in the first place, while Mayor Kevin McCann challenged some commissioners’ ethics.
In a Facebook post that has received more than 60 comments, McCann called the vote a “dangerous precedent” and the commissioners’ decision to meet with a representative of the developer before the vote “even more troubling.”
“As Mayor, I fought hard against this decision and I want you to understand why,” McCann wrote. “Each of the Commissioners who voted for the fee removal held private meetings with representatives of the project.”
All commissioners properly disclosed they did meet privately with Paul Partyka, a former Winter Springs mayor currently representing the developer to the Commission.
At the June 23 commission meeting, the developer’s representatives argued it had already paid $149,000, according to a 2017 agreement, to cover all arbor fees for “all current and future phases of the project” and was “shocked” when the city demanded another $227,400 for removing more trees during another phase of the project.
Arbor fees are commonly charged by municipalities to replace trees elsewhere removed during construction.
“There’s a very high level of confusion on this,” a representative for the developer told the commission. “The $149,000 was paid.”
Winter Springs city attorney Anthony Garganese said he hastily reviewed documentation city staff had scrambled to compile on the initial agreement with the developer in the hours before the commission meeting and warned commissioners of potential consequences of their vote.
“So you waive it here they’re going to come back for the next portion and say they’re entitled to the same waiver based on their argument,” Garganese told the commission.
Mayor McCann, Deputy Mayor Cade Resnick and Commissioner Sarah Baker disagreed the $149,000 arbor fee already paid by the developer applied to all future phases of the construction project.
They were outnumbered by Commissioners Mark Caruso, Victoria Bruce and Paul Diaz, who voted 3-2 to not charge the additional $227,400 fee.
“I am concerned that it appears as if there was an omission of fact by the developer, or even a misrepresentation of fact by the developer when they came before the city commission and the residents of Winter Springs on the June 23 meeting,” McCann told News 6. “And look, if it was not intentional, so be it. But it sent the commission down a path of misunderstanding, whether it was intentional or not. They brought in a very highly qualified, very influential attorney that argued their points with precision. She was truly talented. She represented her client well. But I believe the facts show that there were key parts left out of that argument.”
Commissioner Bruce said the developer had already paid the tree arbor fee in full.
“I’m going by the agreement and the agreement states that it was for the project, which would have been the entire 45 acres, which is part of the legal description of the original agreement,” Bruce told News 6. “The first modification of the agreement is a party to the original. And so if you look at the jargon of the agreement and you’re not going to dig back into all these emails, the agreement is what we need to go by. That’s the legal binding developer’s agreement that was signed 10 years ago. And that is what I’m justifying my response by.”
Bruce said city staff - specifically Planning and Zoning - did not provide commissioners enough information at the June 23 meeting. She said she got her information from meeting directly with the developer’s representative.
“We were not given any information, Planning and Zoning, they weren’t giving any information,” Bruce said. “If we were not made aware, we would have been blinded and had no idea of the other party side. It was not presented to us. I had to ask questions in order to get it. Or it would just have been washed right over and no one would have known the specifics.”
Bruce posted more on her website.
“In 2017, the City of Winter Springs entered into a recorded development agreement and First Modification with the developer of the Town Center area, which includes the property now referred to as the Seahawk Cove Extension,” Bruce explained. “That agreement identified the full project site as 45.687 acres and established a tree mitigation fee totaling $149,660, which was subsequently paid in full... This arbor fee was labeled in the agreement as the “final adjusted City arbor fee” for the Project, with “Project” defined as the entire development area—not a single phase."
At the commission’s July 14 meeting, Mayor McCann acknowledged his controversial Facebook post.
“And I understand I said something on social media where I questioned a meeting with developers and that may have come across, and I regret the way that may have come across,” McCann said.
Commissioner Caruso interrupted McCann.
“Mayor, you basically put it out there to the community that you’re challenging our ethics, that’s exactly what you did,” Caruso said.
McCann doubled down.
“As newly elected officials, you should be concerned that that looks awful,” McCann said. “And I am telling you, it looks awful. I’m not backing down from that.”
[WATCH: Winter Springs mayor on why he supports charging arbor fee to developer]
Mayor McCann told News 6 he does not meet with developers in advance of meetings.
“I believe that the commission members, all of us, are human beings, and they were influenced by the former mayor,” McCann told News 6. “They had private meetings 1 to 2 business days prior to this key vote... and those meetings, although not illegal, should be concerning. It doesn’t look good. And they are human beings who, listening to people, they allowed themselves, I believe, to be swayed. This city commission must enter those kinds of conversations with skepticism and really use critical thinking skills when they listen.”
Commissioner Bruce told News 6 it is crucial to meet with developers.
“If we don’t meet with our partners, we will get bad projects,” Commissioner Bruce told News 6. “If we meet with our partners, I mean, especially the Town Center, this is a high-diversification long-term plan. And if we can’t work amicably with them, nobody’s going to want to develop or be a part of our city. And so they’re they’re our most important partners. And I feel having a dialog open with them is incredibly important. And from what I learned from the Seminole County officials, they taught me that if you can have ex-parte communications, but you have to document it correctly, which I did, and also make sure that everything’s on the up and up and that you clearly explain it on the dais and also do written documentation with the clerk and then it’s all on board and that’s what the other 500 municipalities do as well.”
[WATCH: Winter Springs commissioner defends her vote in tree fee decision]
At the July 14 meeting, Commissioner Baker claimed the commission was bullied by the developer into voting last month.
“A lawyer for the developer bullied us into making a decision that she had to have the vote that night,” Baker said. “And instead of us pushing back and stating we didn’t have the information to make the vote, we allowed her to bully us. We did ourselves and the city a disservice by not asking the right questions.”
Commissioner Bruce told News 6 she did not feel bullied by the developer.
“The whole thing is ambiguous!” Bruce said at the July 14th meeting. “The whole thing smells! On both sides!”
McCann said the vote should have been postponed.
“We never should have held the vote,” McCann said.
The Commission nearly voted to rescind the June 23 vote that removed the additional $227,400 fee — even at the risk of legal action by the developer — but instead agreed to discuss it further at the next city commission meeting on Aug. 11.
To any threat of a lawsuit, Mayor McCann said, “Bring it.”
On Monday, News 6 interviewed Mayor McCann for 22 minutes and Commissioner Victoria Bruce for 10 minutes. Both unedited interviews are posted in this story.