The Apopka Chief, November 6, 2020, Page 4A

a group of students and we scheduled the first set of meetings.

My first meeting took place this week with my Apopka High School Stu-dent Focus Group. We had around 15 students log on to the virtual meeting. It appeared to be a nice cross-section of students in all grade levels and in-terests.

Some students were tuned in from home since they are learning from home and the school pro-vided a conference room for the face-to-face stu-dents to use for the meet-ing.

Principal Heinz told me that he worked in col-laborations with guidance counselors and adminis-tration when choosing stu-dents. “We looked at our students and wanted to cre-ate a cross section of stu-dents that represent every-one who attends here at Apopka High School. We took many factors into con-sideration so you could get the point of view of a va-

riety of students at AHS,” he said.

As I suspected, the students had a lot to say and I loved every min-ute of it. We started off by spending a lot of time talk-ing about the challenges they have faced this year, learning through this pan-demic.

From frequent sched-ule changes to feeling iso-lated, these students real-ly opened up to me about how they are feeling about learning from home or from school under these circumstances.

Not only do I feel it was good for the students to express their feelings to someone who was real-ly listening, they gave me some great input that I can take back to the superinten-dent and staff to try to ad-dress.

Some of the issues are very easy to address local-ly, and I will begin work-ing on them right away. Others are issues that have to be addressed at the state level, and I explained a lot of that to the kids.

I also expressed to

them how they should write to the commissioner of education themselves so he can also hear their voic-es but I did add their con-cerns to my list of state is-sues to address.

Many of the students commented that the meet-ing was very informative and insightful. Often, they just need things explained to them.

We sometimes just push through policies or actions and don’t take the time to explain why which leaves the students feeling disconnected and uninvest-ed in the process.

I hope to change that for these students. I gained a lot from our time togeth-er and encouraged them to email me regularly until our next meeting.

My other two high school focus group meet-ings are already set up and will be taking place in the next few weeks.

I’m so appreciative of the students giving up their time, and it certainly was the highlight of my week.

I can’t wait to do it again.

Continued from page 2A

Byrd: Many challenges mentioned

and North Africa in search of funds, ammunition and fighters for the nascent Jewish state. “After a year of sail-ing, the ship was renamed Altalena (a nom de plume ad for Zionist leader Ze’ve Jabotinsky). In addition to weapons donated by France, on board were hun-dreds of Holocaust survi-vors and American volun-teers. “In June,1948, a few weeks after David Ben-Gurion declared Jewish statehood the Altalena at-tempted to dock in Tel Aviv. Once docked, Irgun members could rearm their comrades and engage in battles for Israel’s survival. “Due to rumors that the Irgun was planning a military coup, the recently established IDF attacked

the Altalena on Ben-Guri-on’s orders. “Under machine-gun fire and shelling, Levin was among the last peo-ple to jump from the smoldering ship, along with the captain. With several other Irgun fighters, Levin managed to cross the beach and sneak into the country. Three years later, he met his wife Sara, a Hungarian Jew, who in another twist of fate. as a member of the Hungar-ian paramilitary, had been supporting soldiers as they fired on the ship of her fu-ture husband. “Although political opposites within Zionism, the couple had two chil-dren and moved to the U.S. in 1967. After working as a mechanic for the NYC transportation authority, Levin fulfilled a dream by owning his own gas sta-

tion. “Despite the horrific circumstances of his youth, Levin had an enormous amount of energy and joy and love,” said his son. “He was by far the most popular person in the nurs-ing home.’ “In the 1994 film ‘For-rest Gump’ starring Tom Hanks, the protagonist finds himself at the cen-ter of many turning points in history. Gump had Viet-nam, JFK, and running across America. Levin had Lithuanian forests, the Avengers, and swimming ashore from the Altalena. “My son, if thou shall receive my words and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to under-standing.” Proverbs 2:1 and 2.

Corbeil: Levin able to sneak in

richer, and better able to lead a just and stable de-mocracy.”

I know one thing – we must learn to work to-gether and local issues are a great place to bridge the current great partisan di-vide. We can all find a way to collaborate while im-proving our local town’s infrastructure, neighbor-hoods, and property values.

I’m a big believer in project-based learning and projects for working to-gether. I just wish there were more hours in the day. But, I do intend on helping every community work on a project before I leave office. Thus, I’m sharing projects already commenced and a few up-coming ones. I’m always open to hearing your ideas for other areas, just re-member, government has a role, but private property owners have the lion share of responsibility. So, many

times, I just provide the in-spiration and organization to inspire a group of peo-ple together for their cho-sen action.

The Lockhart area successfully came togeth-er under the leadership of Carol Winardi of River-side Woods at the District 2 HOA meeting. Yet, the entire town had already joined together to pro-duce a mural and begin a process to revitalize their down town. The People of Lockhart under president David Smith, just this past weekend, encouraged the residents of Orangebrook to come out and paint the moldy and dilapidated wall along Eden Park Road.

The Wekiwa Alliance area successfully came to-gether to begin their part in the restoration of Wekiwa Springs. There are many smaller issues where citi-zens showed up to stop a proposed community in a rural section with too small of lots. They have come to-

gether for park traffic im-provements, a traffic sep-arator at State Road 436, and a host of issues. This was the first time, however, the HOA leadership teams met together virtually un-der the able leadership of Sue Henesy from Chelsea Ridge.

The North Pine Hills area is beginning work to beautify the Clarcona-Ocoee corridor in advance of the Coast to Coast Rail traversing east down the street to North Pine Hills Road and heading north along U.S. Highway 441 to Northrop Grumman at State Road 414. After one solid year of looking, I have found a source of free trees to donate to the HOAs all along Clarcona-Ocoee Road east of Hia-wassee Road and west of Pine Hills Road. I’m hop-ing to engage neighbor-hood leaders in a dinner meeting this month or next and begin the plantings the first of the year.

The southern Apop-ka area came together un-der Karin Settle of Pied-mont Park. I cannot wait to see what items this group might choose to work to-gether on.

I know lighting has been and is still a big con-cern. They were grateful for the new lights on Apop-ka Boulevard and Pied-mont-Wekiwa Road. There are concerns about the severe flooding from Border Lake impacting the entire Piedmont chain of lakes.

The South Apopka residents have interest in beautifying the area and repairing aging infrastruc-ture.

And finally, my aide convened a group of city HOA leaders about the

county versus the city’s role in incorporated Ocoee and Apopka. This distinc-tion is incredibly challeng-ing for new neighborhood leaders. Our county role is greatly reduced to mosqui-to and animal control and maintaining our roadways. Kathy discussed my work on anti-graffiti coatings for traffic signal boxes, light-ing, and the pressure-wash-ing of walls along Rock Springs Road. Addition-ally, we added a stop sign at Mt. Plymouth and Kel-ly Park roads to encourage safer passage.

Yet, I’m still interested in Paradise Heights, Zell-wood, and Tangerine. Par-adise Heights is engaged in a traffic study for a stop sign at McCormick Road. Zellwood needs many,

many things. We have, to date,

mainly focused on work-ing with FDOT to improve their mowing along the county-only section. I look forward to doing so much more with these dear peo-ple. And Tangerine, has been in the middle of many issues, notwithstanding the odor issue.

If you would like to join one of our neighbor-hood leader groups, we are soon planning to have out-door dinner meetings by area – this is as long as our COVID numbers are still under control.

Please call my of-fice at 407-836-5850 and speak to Kathy or Daniel. We would love to have you join us.

All my best.

Moore: North Pine Hills area is beginning work to beautify corridor Continued from page 2A

A l l A b o u t A p o p k A

The Apopka Chief is published every Friday and entered as Periodicals, postage paid at Apopka Post Office, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. The Apopka Chief news-paper is published by Foliage Enterprises, Inc., every Fri-day at 400 North Park Avenue, Apopka, Fla., 32712-3417. An annual subscription is $25 in Orange County and $30 outside Orange County. Phone 407-886-2777. Postmas-ter: Send address changes to The Apopka Chief, P.O. Box 880, Apopka, Fla., 32704-0880. The Apopka Chief is a consistent award-winning community weekly newspaper and a member of the Florida Press Association. The newspaper won the group’s award as its best newspaper in 1982, 1987, and 1988, the only three-time winner. Letters to the editor are wel-come, but must be signed and include a daytime telephone number, address,, or email address for verification. Management reserves the right to edit let-ters.

www.theapopkachief.com, news@theapopkachief.com

City of ApopkaTelephone Numbers

Orange CountyTelephone Numbers

Other AreaNumbers of Note

City Hall .............................................407-703-1700Mayor’s Office .................................407-703-1701City Administrator .........................407-703-1649City Clerk ..........................................407-703-1704Community Devel. ........................407-703-1712Code Enforcement ........................407-703-1738Finance Dept. ..................................407-703-1725Fire (non-emerg.) ...........................407-703-1756Parks and Rec. Dept. .....................407-703-1741Police Chief ......................................407-703-1769Police (non-emerg.) ......................407-703-1771Job Line .............................................407-703-1743Solid Waste Collect........................407-703-1731Street Maintenance ......................407-703-1731Utility Billing ....................................407-703-1727Medical, fire emergency.................................. 911The city of Apopka was chartered in 1882. It is located at 28’30 north latitude and is 150 feet above sea level. Its population is about 48,000 and its total area is more than 30 sq. mi. www.apopka.net

Animal Services ..................... 407-836-3111Auto/Boat Tags ...................... 850-617-2000Building Dept. ........................ 407-836-8550County Mayor ........................ 407-836-7370County Commission ............ 407-836-7350County Attorney ................... 407-836-7320Clerk of the Court ................. 407-836-2065Elections Supervisor ............ 407-836-2070Fire/Rescue ............................. 407-836-3111Solid Waste ............................. 407-836-6601Garbage Collection .............. 407-703-1731Health Dept. ........................... 407-836-2600Hunting/Fishing Lic ............. 888-347-4356Parks and Rec. Dept. ............ 407-836-6200Property Appraiser ............... 407-836-5044Sheriff Administrative ......... 407-254-7000Non-Emerg. Complaint....... 407-836-4357Utilities ..................................... 407-836-5515All other departments ........ 407-836-3111Medical, fire emergency......................... 911

www.orangecountyfl.net

U.S. SenatorsRick Scott (Rep.) .......................... 202-224-5274Marco Rubio (Rep.) ...................... 407-254-2573U.S. Representative Val Demings (Dist. 10) ................ 321-388-9808State RepresentativesJennifer Sullivan (Dist. 31) ......... 352-742-6275Kamia Brown (Dist. 45) .............. 850-717-5045State SenatorsRandolph Bracy (Dist. 11) ......... 407-297-2045Orange County CommissionerChristine Moore ........................... 407-836-7350Orange County Public SchoolsPupil assignment ......................... 407-317-3233Bus routes ....................................... 407-317-3800Superintendent ............................ 407-317-3200School Board ................................. 407-317-3200MiscellaneousThe Apopka Chief .......................... 407-886-2777Museum of the Apopkans ........ 407-703-1707Chamber of Commerce .............. 407-886-1441

The Apopka ChiefEstablished 1923

(USPS 545-440)

Continued from page 2A

Publish: The Apopka Chief 167503

CITY OF APOPKAPUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

AMENDMENTS TO APOPKA LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE

NOTICE is hereby given that the City of Apopka proposes to amend the Land Development Code of the City of Apopka, Florida in accordance with Florida Statutes 166.041(3)(c) and the Apopka Code of Ordinances, Part III, Land Development Code, Article II, Section 2.4.7(B), to revise sections of said Land Development Code as specifi ed within the Ordinance title and within Ordinance Number 2805. The proposed amendments affect or may affect the use of property, the development of building and structures, and the development review process for land located within the jurisdiction of the City of Apopka, Florida.

Apopka City CouncilCommunity Development Department

Notice is given that public hearing For Ordinance No. 2805 will be held by the City of Apopka City Council at its regularly scheduled meetings in the City Council Chambers of the Apopka City Hall, 120 E. Main Street, Apopka, Florida on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, beginning at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible.

Affected parties and the public may appear at the above listed hearing to speak. The proposed amendment to the Land Development Code can be inspected at the Apopka Community Development Department located at Apopka City Hall on weekdays between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. City Hall address shown below. Please be advised that, under State law, if you decide to appeal a decision made with respect to this matter, you will need a record of the proceedings and may need to ensure that a verbatim record is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), persons with disabilities needing assistance to participate in any of these proceedings should contact the City Clerk’s Offi ce at 120 East Main Street, Apopka FL 32703, Telephone: 407-703-1704, no less than 48 hours prior to the proceeding.

November 6, 2020

ORDINANCE NO. 2805AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF APOPKA, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF APOPKA BY AMENDING PART III – LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE; ARTICLE 2 ADMINISTRATION, SECTION 2.5.1. DISCRETIONARY APPROVALS; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 2, SECTION 2.5.4. PERMITS; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 3 ZONING DISTRICTS, SECTION 3.2.3. AG AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 3, SECTION 3.5.3 I-L LIGHT INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 3, SECTION 3.5.4 I-H HEAVY INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 4 USE REGULATIONS, TABLE 4.2.2.C; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 4, SECTION 4.2.3. STANDARDS SPECIFIC TO PRINCIPAL USES; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 5 DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS, SECTION 5.3.2 APPLICABILITY; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 5, SECTION 5.6.2. APPLICABILITY; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 5, SECTION 5.13.2. MINIMUM STREET DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS; BY AMENDING PART III, ARTICLE 5, SECTION 5.13.4. STREETS; BY AMENDING PART III, APPENDIX A, MIXED USE KELLY PARK INTERCHANGE (MU-KPI) FORM-BASED CODE, F. PERMITTED USES; BY AMENDING PART III, APPENDIX A, MIXED USE KELLY PARK INTERCHANGE (MU-KPI) FORM-BASED CODE, O. SIGNS; PROVIDING FOR CODIFICATION; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICTS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

The Apopka Chief, November 6, 2020, Page 9A

treatment plant on Cleve-land Street. Mayor Bryan Nelson said he asked Weatherford to give the presentation as the city looks to solve the issues, especially with in the Border Lake area. “We’re trying to work where we can and come up with solutions,” Nelson said. “There aren’t any real good solutions. It’s a chal-lenge.” Weatherford said the problem is simple, but the solution is not. “Where do we put the water? There’s nowhere for it to go.”

Rock Springs Ridge Cory Clarke, a resident of Rock Springs Ridge, questioned why several trees that were supposed to act as a natural buffer were cut down by the de-veloper of what has been known as Rock Springs Re-serve or the Hamrick prop-erty, a proposed develop-ment of 103 houses near the southwest corner of Rock Springs Ridge. The trees were cut down to put in the sewer line and Jason Searl, attor-ney for the developer, said the developer did nothing wrong and abided by the development agreement between the city and the de-veloper. Jim Hitt, the city’s Community Development director, originally called the cutting down of the trees “just ludicrous” but after discussion between City Council members, Searl, and Hitt, the sides decided to look at the issue further to see if any other trees can be saved from be-ing cut down. Other items Orange County Public Schools officials gave an update on a new school in Apopka that is scheduled to open in August 2022. The kindergarten through eighth grade school located on the west side of Jason Dwelley Parkway north of Appy Lane will provide relief to both Wolf Lake Elementary and Wolf Lake Middle schools. The new school will have two one-story build-ings that will house, among other facilities, the gym-nasium. There will be a two-story classroom build-ing and a three-story class-room building that will also house the administrative offices. OCPS officials said there will be separate en-trances off of Jason Dwell-ey Parkway, one for school buses and one for cars. There will be room for 243 cars to line up for drop-off or pick-up, the OCPS offi-cials said, as well as park-

ing for 148 vehicles. The bus loop will have enough room for 13 buses to line up. The school will also in-clude an athletic field with a track. There will also be outdoor basketball courts.

…The City Council gave

the OK for the Apopka Po-lice Department to accept more than $75,000 in grants with most of the grants coming from the Florida Department of Transporta-tion and one coming from the U.S. Department of Jus-tice. The four FDOT grants total $66,000 and include: $29,000-heavy enforce-ment of aggressive traffic; $20,000-distracted driving program; $12,000-arrest-ing impaired motorists; and $5,000-reinforcing teen safety. The U.S. Depart-ment of Justice grant is for $9,100 and will go to re-place ballistic vests that po-lice officers wear that are about to expire. The bal-listic vests assigned to offi-cers have a usable life cy-cle of five years and then requirereplacement. These funds will help cover approxi-mately one-half the cost of what the department will spend this year to replace 20 ballistic vests that are set to expire.

… An additional $56,772.02 was approved by the City Council to ac-count for cost overruns dur-ing the resurfacing of city streets. Originally, the city budgeted $800,000 for the resurfacing of 15 city streets during September, but the contractor said there were some locations where the base of the street need-ed repair, which is more expensive than just resur-facing. In July, another $10,000 was added to the $800,000 and now addi-tional funds are needed to pay for more asphalt that is needed than was originally thought. The contractor said there were many instances of “scabbing” of the road where one or more layers

of the existing asphalt was lost, causing the company to have to use more asphalt than planned for those ar-eas. Some places required as much as an additional three inches of asphalt, ac-cording to city documents. The city’s final cost was higher due to the se-verity of scabbing and also because of items added to the project not included in the original estimate such as driveway aprons and ex-tending local roadway seg-ment limits. In the future, a contin-gency amount of 10 percent will be included in resur-facing amounts to address such issues, the city docu-ments said.

… The City Council vot-ed 4-0 to approve the major development plan for one housing development and two industrial warehouse developments. The housing devel-opment is the Oak Pointe North apartments at 2901 Ocoee-Apopka Road, just south of AdventHealth Apopka hospital. The 16-acre parcel will have 240 apartment units. There will be nine buildings in the one-phase construction with 120 stu-dio and one-bedroom apart-ments and 120 larger apart-ments. There will be 306 total parking spaces in the com-plex that will have a club-house and a pool. The larger of the ware-house sites is located at 2550 Ocoee-Apopka Road, south of the proposed apart-ment complex. There will be two warehouse build-ings totaling 189,000 sq. ft. located on 18 acres. The other warehouse will be built on six acres at 2983 W. Orange Ave., in the Plymouth area of Apop-ka. The warehouse will be 82,735 sq. ft.

… City Attorney Michael Rodriguez gave a brief up-date on movement with-in the Apopka Fire De-partment to follow the po-lice department and form a union to represent the non-management employees in contract negotiations with

the city. Rodriguez said an at-torney from the Interna-tional Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) contacted him to ask if the city would voluntarily recognize the union, but Rodriguez said the city declined, saying that it would not give the fire fighters a chance to

vote either yes or no on the matter. No paperwork has yet been received by the city from the Florida Public Employees Relations Com-mission, Rodriguez said.

… Mayor Bryan Nelson said because of the state government having less

money due to COVID-19, he suggested that the City Council trim the city’s leg-islative priority list. As a result, the council decided to remove all but three items on the list – the Border Lake flood protec-tion project, Harmon Road Extension, and fire station 6.

Flood: City Council had several other items on a long, busy agendaContinued from page 1A

Public Services Director Jeff Weatherford speaks be-fore the City Council on Wednesday, November 4.

These hoses are connected to pumps that move water from the retention pond in front of Hobby Lobby and Bealls at State Road 436 and Piedmont-Wekiwa Road.

Kamori Williams of Apopka was ac-cepted into Culver-Stockton College’s in-coming class for the fall 2021 semester, ac-cording to the college’s Tuesday, Novem-ber 3, press release.

Williams, a senior at Wekiva High School, also was awarded the Hilltop Scholarship, a $10,500 per year scholar-

ship for four years. This scholarship is awarded based upon academic credentials and is renewable provided the student re-mains in good academic standing.

Located in Canton, Mo., Culver-Stockton College is a four-year residential institution in affiliation with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

College scholarship awarded to senior at Wekiva High School

Publish: The Apopka Chief 167502

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICESMALL SCALE FUTURE LAND USE

AMENDMENT AND CHANGE OF ZONINGNOTICE is hereby given pursuant to Secs. 163.3187 and 166.041(3)(c), Florida Statutes and the Apopka Code of Ordinances, Part III, Land Development Code, Article II, Section 2.4.7(B), that Beckwood Real Estate Development LLC has made an application, to the City of Apopka City Council, and Apopka Planning Commission for a change in the Future Land Use Designation for approximately 0.41 +/- acres from “County” Low Density Residential to “City” Low Density Residential and a change in Zoning from “County” R-3 (Multiple-Family Dwelling District) to RSF-1B (Residential Single-Family District – Large Lot). This application relates to the following described property located North of W. 12th Street and East of S. Hawthorne Avenue.

Apopka City CouncilCommunity Development Department

Notice is given that public hearing for Ordinance Nos. 2796 and Ordinance No. 2797 will be held by the City of Apopka City Council at its regularly scheduled meetings in the City Council Chambers of the Apopka City Hall, 120 E. Main Street, Apopka, Florida on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, beginning at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible.

Affected parties and the public may appear at the above listed hearing to speak. The proposed Future Land Use and Zoning can be inspected at the Apopka Community Development Department located at Apopka City Hall on weekdays between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. City Hall address shown below. Please be advised that, under State law, if you decide to appeal a decision made with respect to this matter, you will need a record of the proceedings and may need to ensure that a verbatim record is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), persons with disabilities needing assistance to participate in any of these proceedings should contact the City Clerk’s Offi ce at 120 East Main Street, Apopka FL 32703, Telephone: 407-703-1704, no less than 48 hours prior to the proceeding.

November 6, 2020

Parcel I.D.: 09-21-28-0196-90-211Contains: 0.41 +/- Acres

ORDINANCE NO. 2796AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF APOPKA, FLORIDA, AMENDING THE FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT OF THE APOPKA COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF THE CITY OF APOPKA; CHANGING THE FUTURE LAND USE DESIGNATION FROM “COUNTY” LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL TO “CITY” LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL FOR CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY LOCATED NORTH OF W. 12th STREET AND EAST OF S. HAWTHORNE AVENUE, COMPRISING 0.41 ACRES MORE OR LESS, AND OWNED BY BECKWOOD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT LLC; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY AND FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

ORDINANCE NO. 2797AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF APOPKA, FLORIDA, CHANGING THE ZONING FROM “COUNTY” R-3 (MULTIPLE-FAMILY DWELLING DISTRICT) TO RSF-1B (SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT – LARGE LOT) FOR CERTAIN REAL PROPERTY LOCATED NORTH OF W. 12th STREET AND EAST OF S. HAWTHORNE AVENUE, COMPRISING 0.41 ACRES MORE OR LESS, AND OWNED BY BECKWOOD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT LLC; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

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