WINTER PARK — Winter Park’s master plan is one step closer to reality after the Winter Park Town Council approved the final draft at their meeting Tuesday morning.

Imagine Winter Park, the town’s 10-year master plan, lays out four visions with corresponding goals and strategies to achieve them. The four visions focus on character and culture, global and local connectivity, outdoor recreation and the environment.

A draft version of the master plan was presented to the community at an event in September, where the town received more community input to create the final draft. The last time the town developed a master plan was in 2006.

“The town plan we have been working on for a little over a year is now ready hopefully for adoption,” said James Shockey, community development director for the town.

The final draft includes changes such as additional language on the connectivity of downtown Winter Park and Winter Park Resort, the desire for more parks and recreation and keeping wildlife, particularly bears, out of trash.

“We had a lot of discussion in there about connections, like transportation connections, but we didn’t have anything about a sense of connection, so we put a broader statement in there that will allow us to recognize the role that downtown and the resort play,” Shockey said.

Winter Park town staff are currently working on an action plan so that the town can begin implementing the master plan after it’s approved.

Shockey said the town is anticipating starting on three projects from the master plan in 2019, including updating the town’s sign code and creating a downtown plan and sustainability plan.

The final public hearing and official adoption of the plan will take place at 8 a.m. Jan. 8.

Old Town road gets new name

In accordance with the focus on the town’s character and culture, the town council also gave support for a road name change in Old Town.

Residents of Old Town’s Slopeside Village Condominiums have asked the town for permission to change the name of the road currently known as Clover Lane to Kinney Way.

The new name is in honor of the developer of Slopeside Village Condominiums, Tim Kinney. The property owners have volunteered to pay the cost of new street signs and Shockey said the town will just have to make the address changes required for emergency services.

The town council will receive an resolution for the name change at their next meeting, which will be at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 8.