Jeff Briggs’ personal passion parallels his tenure with the City of Winter Park.
As an endurance athlete, he is accustomed to pacing himself and managing obstacles to achieve long-term sustainability. As planning & zoning director, he navigated opposing design priorities to help maintain a small-town vibe during a nearly five-decade-long career. He says the key to longevity in his role is the ability to strike a balance between both sides of an issue, but he also identifies with another personality known for an established career. “Just like Howard Cosell, I tell it like it is.”
Briggs was born and raised in New Jersey. He studied political science at the University of New Hampshire, but his career path remained unclear even after graduation. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, except I wanted to get out of New Jersey and go to college,” Briggs told the32789 of his early years. At the suggestion of a friend, he considered a future in planning and design and attended graduate school at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Just as Briggs was completing the master’s program in 1977, then City of Winter Park Planning & Zoning Director and Georgia Tech alumni David Harden put in a call to his alma mater. “He had just been appointed city manager and was looking for his replacement,” said Briggs. “The staff referred him to me and here I still am.”
Briggs’ 47-year tenure has overlapped with 11 city managers, 32 city commissioners, and included discussions with countless developers and residents: each with their own opinions of projects and design standards. “One camp is a little more permissive of growth and development. The other wants to retain more conservative standards,” he said. “Finding a balance is what I have been best at as evidenced by my survival.”
Architectural standards are a recurring topic of debate at city commission meetings and the recent frequency is not lost on Briggs. “I look back at planning & zoning agendas from the 1980’s; maybe one or two items were scheduled per meeting. Now, we have five or six items.” Questions over zoning variances for the recently approved McCraney Property Company headquarters spurred requests for updated guidelines for the Orange Avenue Overlay and the Central Business District. And residents along Webster Avenue rallied last year for design changes to the Winter Park Commons townhome project that will occupy the former Patmos Chapel Seventh Day Adventist Church site. Briggs says the debates are a byproduct of success with increasing property values creating a need for larger, more modern designs. “It’s always about compromising between a nice project and special permission for an extra story or some other addition to make projects profitable.”
Despite the requests for change, Briggs feels the city will continue to maintain the vision that inspired its founding. “It is amazing to me how much (Winter Park) remains as it was planned in 1882,” he said. “There hasn’t been a major change to the vision of what the city should be; there are areas ripe for redevelopment, but it’s all about balancing the needs of both camps.”
When asked about the most notable achievement of his extensive career, Briggs didn’t cite a commercial project or residential addition. Instead, he told the origin story of another longstanding city staple.
“I was the young guy in the room in 1979 and the city had just bought the freight depot property. One of the commissioners said it should be used as a farmer’s market, but someone would have to oversee that. And somebody said, ‘put Jeff in charge!’ Its success wasn’t a miracle because like they say, location, location, location. I put up flyers, found some vendors, they sold out the first morning and people told their friends and the crowds kept coming back. It’s not like I had any magic formula, but it’s become an institution.”
Briggs also worked with Parkland Homes founder Hal George and former Rollins College President Thaddeus Seymour to form Habitat for Humanity of Winter Park-Maitland in 1992. And as liaison to the Historic Preservation Board, he spearheaded efforts to add markers documenting the significance of the city’s historic areas. He also envisioned archway signs to bookend the Park Avenue district with inspiration from Super Bowl LVII.
“There was a commercial break and they showed Kansas City’s historic market district,” he said, referring to the “City Market” archway at the historic River Market neighborhood. “I figured lots of communities have them, why don’t we?” He brought a concept for one arch before city commission and after funding was approved through the Community Redevelopment Agency, Briggs decided to fundraise for a second. “I needed $200,000, so I asked eight people for 25,000 and all eight said yes. Easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
Briggs announced his retirement last year, assuming the role of planning director emeritus as Assistant Planning & Zoning Director Allison McGillis took over as director. Next year, his retirement will begin where his time with the city leaves off: traveling a long road. Briggs is no stranger to endurance challenges like the Boston Marathon and he plans to walk the Camino de Santiago with his partner, Karen. The 500-mile network of trails leads through northwestern Spain to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. “That’ll be six weeks to two months,” he said. Afterward he plans to moderate his endurance ventures to 5K’s and swimming but is not opposed to continuing with the city in an advisory/contractor role, possibly adding to his legacy with the people he credits for making it all worthwhile.
“You don’t make it 47 years without really good people whose hearts are in the right place,” he said. “The two camps are not that far apart, and the credit goes to the people, citizens and commissioners: all striving together to keep this city the best it can be.”
