Business View Magazine | December 2018

308 309 MOUNT DORA, FLORIDA paths along the water; Grantham Park has the only freshwater lighthouse in Florida; and picturesque Elizabeth Evans Park has a lot of festivals.We’re also known for spectacular sunsets–people come to Mount Dora to have their picture taken at sunset at the lighthouse.” BVM: What role does your downtown core play? Hayes: “We refer to Mount Dora as an eccentric, innovative community.We want to carry the charm and vibrancy out to our new development area, but also keep in mind that the downtown is the downtown and keeping it clean and sustaining the credibility of life in that area is very important.We have close to 30 restaurants in a four-block area, so we have challenges with garbage collection and recycling.We’veworkedwith our carriers,WasteMan- agement,to provide downtown businesses with some automated recycling bins and garbage containers that compact.With dailypickup,we’re able to collect around four times the amount we did originally.So restaurants can place their boxes and plastics out for pickup and truly feel good as part of a recycling program–somethingwe didn’t have available before for our commercial community. “On the planning front,fiber is very important,and we’re looking into howwe can sustain smart city connectivity in our historic downtown.Our demo- graphics state Mount Dora’s median age of resi- dents is about 50 years of age. It used to be in the 60s, so it’s changing. Families enjoy the quaintness of being able to walk to the downtown, and we’d ideally like to have a median age around 40.We do have an active senior community, as well,withWa- terman Village expanding from 100 to 200 homes for retirees.They keep the downtown businesses very busy during the day, and tourists and younger Defining Our World Through Design Bentley offers innovative multi-disciplinary architectural, engineering, and development solutions to a variety of public government clients. 651 West Warren Avenue, Suite 200, Longwood, FL 32750 Ph: (407) 331-6116 www.baeonline.com A livable neighborhood starts with a clean, safe and healthy environment. Find out more at ThinkGreen.com As North America’s leading environmental solutions provider, Waste Management is pleased to provide safe, professional waste and recycling services in the City of Mount Dora. There is nothing more powerful than the ability and the passion to make a difference. THINK GREEN. ® Contact Waste Management at (800) 223-4825 PREFERRED VENDORS n Waste Management www.ThinkGreen.com n DRMP www.drmp.com n Bentley www.baeonline.com people come out in the evenings and on weekends. It’s a nice balanced blend.” BVM: All in all, howwould you describe Mount Dora to outsid- ers? Hayes: “We’re a truly quaint, charming community looking to grow and expand into the future. We value our residents and our tourists–they play an integral part in our festivals and events and how our city is maintained.” McDonald: “Mount Dora is definitely a community and a city worth visiting!”