Winter Park Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram is facing scrutiny over Orlando Magic tickets she accepted before voting on Chabad of Greater Orlando’s proposed synagogue, as an attorney for opponents presses the city to send the project back to its planning board ahead of the final vote on October 28.
Ingram accepted five Orlando Magic tickets before voting on a proposed synagogue and residential development, according to records obtained by WFTV Channel 9. Text messages reviewed by OrlandoShine show how the contact between Ingram and the congregation unfolded.
On June 2, Rabbi Dovid Dubov, assistant director of Chabad of Greater Orlando, texted Ingram to say he hoped she had enjoyed “our Jewish Heritage Night with the Orlando Magic back on April 6.” He asked to meet so he could share the vision and current plans for the congregation’s first synagogue in Winter Park. mynews13
Ingram replied two days later.
“We had a great time at the magic game- thanks again!! I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the synagogue,” she wrote.
The two first agreed on July 6, then settled on a Monday morning meeting at the Starbucks on Park Avenue. Ingram’s calendar lists the meeting with Dubov at 9:30 a.m. on June 22.
That night, Dubov texted Ingram a rendering of a modern stone-and-glass building bearing the Chabad name. He wrote that he was “just having fun with AI,” that his architect might kill him, and that he wanted her thoughts. He added that he had shown the image to Bill Segal of the planning and zoning board and that Segal loved it.
The Planning & Zoning Board later gave the synagogue unanimous approval in August.
In a written response to Channel 9, Ingram said her family attended an Orlando Magic game using complimentary tickets provided through a friend. She wrote that there was never any expectation the tickets “were connected to my responsibilities or decisions as a Commissioner.”
Ingram acknowledged receiving the five tickets in a disclosure filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics. A city spokesperson said Ingram disclosed the gift after city officials learned about the tickets and consulted the city attorney. She did not believe the gift’s value exceeded $100 because the tickets came from a friend who had received them for free.
Florida’s gift-reporting law values admission tickets at face value or on a daily or per-event basis, whichever is greater. The records do not establish that the tickets influenced her vote, and no ethics violation has been formally determined.
The project would replace the El Cortez apartments at the corner of Morse Boulevard and Knowles Avenue, a block off Park Avenue, with five new townhomes as well as an 80-seat synagogue and a daycare capped at 60 children on 0.6 acres. It would be Winter Park’s first permanent synagogue. Chabad of Greater Orlando has been looking for a new permanent location after a fire burned down its headquarters in 2024. The cause of the fire was believed to be electrical in nature.
The City Commission approved the project 3-2 on first reading on August 26, with Ingram voting in favor. In September, Ingram and Commissioner Craig Russell joined Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and Commissioner Warren Lindsey in supporting the motion to table. Ingram said she still wants Winter Park to have a synagogue but cited concerns about parking, traffic, rooftop-event noise, and the elevated daycare playground.
Meanwhile, Winter Park attorney Ted B. Edwards, who represents a client opposed to the project, has sent the city two letters this month arguing the development plan missed a long list of code requirements.
In an October 12 letter to city attorney Kurt Ardaman, Edwards called the process “approval by ambush.” He wrote that his team independently found deficiencies that were never reviewed by the planning board, neighbors, or the commission, and that Ardaman told him city staff would prepare a list of the waivers needed.
A second letter, dated October 19 and hand-delivered to the mayor and all four commissioners, lays out six deficiencies Edwards says former Winter Park Planning Director Jeff Briggs has confirmed.
Edwards wrote that a required 10-foot landscape buffer and six-foot masonry wall along the east and south property lines would eliminate six parking spaces and shift the driveway 10 feet west. He argued that because the synagogue exceeds 35 feet in height, code requires it to sit 25 feet from the east and south property lines.
The letter also claims the project falls nine parking spaces short of code, that three guest spaces for the townhomes would be owned by the synagogue in violation of downtown parking rules, and that five parallel guest spaces added as a condition of approval would block townhome garages.
Edwards also wrote that the four-foot-high patio and playground, with four-foot rails, extends to the property line and encroaches into the setback for neighbors to the east. He noted 22 residences sit adjacent to El Cortez.
Because the plan will have to change, Edwards argued, city code requires it to go back to the planning board before the commission can act. He wrote that he is scheduled to meet with Ardaman and city staff member Allison McGillis on October 27, the day before the vote.
The Winter Park City Commission is scheduled to take up the project again on October 28.
